Fostering Intellectual Diversity
The Benson Center promotes study of the intellectual, artistic and political traditions that characterize Western civilization. These ideas emerged during antiquity from societies located primarily in the Eastern and Central Mediterranean, including Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, and have persisted through the fall of Rome, the rise of Christendom, the Renaissance, the Reformation and countless conflicts up to this day. The center's concern, first and foremost, has been with the values that emerged from that tradition, and their continuing role in the institutions of the United States. These Western traditions are at the heart of foundational documents such as the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Emancipation Proclamation. (Some have cited that, relative to the United States, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome and Europe are located to the east, not west, but this nomenclature is an academic tradition that has persisted.)
The Center offers a forum for free inquiry and supports academic freedom and intellectual diversity on campus in a time of increasing political polarization and homogeneity. The Center is organized around a diverse group of faculty and student scholars including a Center Director, Associate Faculty Director, Visiting Scholars in Conservative Thought and Policy (CTP), Scholars in Residence, Faculty Fellows, Harper Graduate Fellows, and Undergraduate Fellows, and an ongoing series of campus seminars, lectures and programs, faculty and student grants, undergraduate classes, a summer institute and community outreach. These programs, guided by a national board of advisors and a CU faculty executive committee, provide a forum for free and open discourse across the university and the broader community. Our aim is to promote a lively and balanced conversation that respects both conservative and liberal ideals, thus fostering the full diversity of political, economic and philosophical perspectives on the CU Boulder campus and broader community, and serving as a model for other institutions.
Statement by the Benson Center
January 7, 2021
The Benson Center’s mission is to increase intellectual and political diversity at CU, and to defend academic freedom and freedom of speech when both are under increasing attack. As one part of that mission, the Center hosts a Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought. These scholars have contributed to the lively exchange of ideas on campus, and they have introduced students to important works and opinions to which they would not otherwise have been exposed. We are proud of that contribution to intellectual life on campus. The Center does not hew to any political line and takes no official political positions beyond our commitment to academic freedom and intellectual diversity.
This year’s scholar, Professor John Eastman, has worked off-campus as a personal attorney for President Trump. In that capacity, he appeared at the rally in Washington D.C., where he made claims of unprecedented fraud during the recent presidential election and Georgia Senate runoff. The Center defends the right of its scholars to express unpopular opinions within the limits of the law. As a rule, the Center does not comment on the opinions of invited speakers and visitors. Nevertheless, the nature of these claims of fraud, and the subsequent violence at the Capitol, induce me to make a statement as the Director of the Center.
I find these claims irresponsible for two reasons: the lack of evidence produced to support them and, especially, the context in which they were expressed. Claims of a stolen election are exceedingly serious and should only be made when they can be backed up with solid evidence. The evidence of material fraud Professor Eastman claims has only been asserted rather than produced. Few of these claims have stood up in court, and most of them have not been presented under oath. The serious procedural issues concerning changes made to state election laws are overshadowed by lurid allegations of rigged voting machines and irrefutable statistical evidence of fraud — none of which have been supported with tangible evidence. While these unsupported allegations are worrisome on their own, they become substantially worse when they are stated to a crowd gathered outside the Capitol in protest. I condemn the riot that followed these speeches unequivocally.
The political use of violence is always beyond the pale. It is illegal and immoral, and it is the responsibility of public figures, including public intellectuals, to act responsibly in volatile circumstances. Professor Eastman did not call for the violence that occurred after the event, and his speech is protected by the First Amendment. Nevertheless, I am deeply disappointed by the radical claims Professor Eastman has made without producing adequate evidence and, even more, by the circumstances under which these assertions were made.
The primary responsibility for the violence in our nation’s capital lies with those who committed it. However, this year has illustrated the danger of public figures, including public intellectuals, who make excuses for political violence or make public statements that exacerbate dangerous situations. There has been too much playing with fire.
Prof. Daniel Jacobson
Director, Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization
