University of Colorado President Todd Saliman deserves accolades for hiring a proven leader as permanent chancellor for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The decision was among his largest since taking the helm and it bodes well for his next big appointment – a chancellor to fill the unfillable shoes of outgoing University of Colorado Boulder chancellor Phil DiStefano.

Saliman announced last week the full-time appointment of interim Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet, an accomplished scholar with a proven ability to move higher education in a constructive direction.

Sobanet served as an economist in former Democratic Gov. Roy Romer’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting. She was CFO and vice president of finance at Front Range Community College. She became acting director and CFO at the Colorado Department of Higher Education before joining CU Denver as the executive vice chancellor of administration and strategy, before serving as interim chancellor at UCCS.

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This academic leader has improved every institution in which she has worked – culturally, financially and academically.

Instead of applauding Saliman, on-campus critics are reportedly upset. A few search committee members feel snubbed because Saliman went with Sobanet over two finalists chosen from a nationwide search.

In the real world, top executives make decisions about who they work most closely with. Saliman is CU’s highest executive, so the decision belongs to him. The committee’s role was advisory.

It’s a safe bet some critics want a chancellor who puts anti-intellectual ideology above all else. It’s just more fun than the rigors of legitimate teaching. So, here’s an idea. The University of Pennsylvania’s president came on the market this month after refusing to condemn the genocide of Jews – a population left-wing, Ivy League intelligentsia view as white oppressors.

Saliman and other academic executives will be smart to run from political propaganda, cloaked as education, that gives higher education a reputation for making people stupid.

Modern oppressors don’t wear white sheets. Instead, they propagate an obsession with “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” critical race theory and other divisive spinoffs that prioritize outward genetic traits over intellect, character and accomplishment. UCCS sociology professor and search committee member Jeffrey Montez de Oca ranks among the critics of Sobanet’s appointment.

Professor Oca’s mostly positive student reviews include: “… all we discussed for the first few weeks was feminist theory,” and “… all we studied was feminist theory the first half of semester.”

Now, consider the two national search finalists: Susan Elrod, chancellor of Indiana University-South Bend, and Mahyar Amouzegar, who recently stepped down as provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at The University of New Orleans in Louisiana.

Elrod hosted a two-day symposium last year on Educational Inclusion, “engaging the campus and community in discussions about diversity, equity, and inclusion,” giving special thanks to the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs.

Amouzegar boasts of convincing his university to offer a Ph.D. in “justice studies” – another fashionable degree based on the physical traits of “oppressors” and “the oppressed” over intellect, knowledge, character, and the basics of business, math, literature, science, history and other disciplines that improve the futures of students.

Sobanet is far from a reactionary opponent of diversity, having earned a doctorate in educational equity. She has shown a commitment to equitable outcomes, not failures excused by identity grievances.

We know Saliman as a lifelong, pragmatic Democrat who cares most about character, knowledge and constructive outcomes. By appointing Sobanet, he chose a course of knowledge, diversity, inclusion and constructive outcomes for all.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board