…in Colorado Springs, once again pushes some of the usual hot buttons. At least, this time, neither side in this dust-up over race and discrimination-over who is the real oppressor and who is the truly oppressed-mentions the newly elected president of the United States. Not even once. Not by name, at any rate.

As reported in today’s Colorado Springs Gazette, the campus hierarchy at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs has closed ranks around Stephany Rose, an associate professor of Women’s and Ethnic Studies at the campus, after her name turned up on a national conservative group’s new academic “watchlist.”

Rose and UCCS Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak dismissed the listing and cast doubt on whether Professor Watchlist’s accusations even merit a response-though both did in fact respond. Rose called the watchlist, “a slap in the face to real journalism,” and Shockley-Zabalak, in defending Rose, said, “She has a proven track record in the classroom and as a scholar with numerous publications and book chapters to her credit.”

And the website itself? As reported by the Gazette’s Debbie Kelley:

A conservative activist organization, Turning Point USA, started “Professor Watchlist” on Nov. 21, targeting professors who “advance a racial agenda in lecture halls.” The website disseminates its information from recent news stories published by various media outlets.

The website notes its mission is, “…to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.”

What did Rose say or do to warrant a listing? As noted in The Gazette’s report:

Her book, “Abolishing White Masculinity from Mark Twain to Hiphop: Crises in Whiteness,” published in 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield, is cited on the website, as is her premise that successful black people who believe in the American dream perpetuate white supremacy.

As the Gazette report also notes:

Rose said her work, more often than not, is well-received.

“I attribute that to the level of intellectualism that people have, and when they really read the work, they begin to understand what it’s about,” she said.

Her latest book, “Recovering From Racism: A Guidebook to Beginning Conversations” was released last year. An African-American, Rose considers herself a “critical whiteness scholar” and consultant who specializes in white masculinity.

Well, at least some of that certainly is bound to make for a real conversation starter. Let’s just keep it at that level-conversational and friendly.