Christian Professor Loses Job
Over a Reading Assignment

By Steve Jordahl

A University of Colorado (CU) professor has lost his teaching position because of his outspoken views and controversial personal beliefs -- and it’s not Ward Churchill.
Most Americans have no doubt heard of Churchill, the CU ethnic studies professor who compared the ‘victims’ of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to ‘Nazis.’ But he still has his job.
Phil Mitchell, a conservative Christian, does not. His crime? He assigned his history class to read In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, the book in which the phrase “What would Jesus do?” was coined.
Mitchell said he was immediately terminated when one student complained to the history department about the assignment.
“I called the director of my program on Monday morning,” Mitchell explained, “and he confirmed that the department was going to let me teach one more year and then I would no longer be permitted to teach history at the University of Colorado.”
When asked about Mitchell, a secretary in the history department -- who asked that she not be identified -- angrily responded, “We don’t let him teach here.”
This isn’t the first time Mitchell, who has taught at CU for more than 20 years, has taken heat for using conservative sources in his classes. He said that when he quoted from Thomas Sowell, a conservative black commentator, the department head berated him and called him a “racist.”
Ron Robinson, president of the Young America’s Foundation, said what happened to Mitchell is a pretty obvious case of liberal bias. “They know what they’re doing,” he said of University of Colorado officials. “They’re freezing out conservative ideas; they’re freezing out conservative professors.”
The timing of the controversy is especially odd, considering how the campus has rallied around Churchill. “I think it’s interesting,” Mitchell said. “People are marching for Ward’s academic freedom, and I think -- to a point -- that’s legitimate. I just wish somebody would march for mine.  I don’t have any marchers.”

Steve Jordahl is a correspondent for Focus on the Family. This article appeared in the CitizenLink Daily Update published March 10, 2005. CitizenLink is a policy and culture information service of Focus on the Family. For more information visit http://www.citizenlink.org.