That’s my former colleague’s self-description in this NY Times article about conservative efforts to influence the curricula at colleges and universities through programs like the one Rob heads up at UT Austin.  But as Rob is quoted as saying in the article,

“The kind of thing that we’re proposing and developing transcends all those political differences whether you’re right, left or center,” said Robert Koons, the director of Texas’ program, who describes himself as a run-of-the-mill Republican. “It’s not the answers, but the questions” about ethics, justice and civic duty that are being discussed, he said.

Since these topics were already being discussed in tons of courses in Philosophy, Government, and other departments, it is a bit mysterious why a special Program was needed.  But knowing that Rob is a fair-minded guy, I believe his description of what the Program is about, even though I’m not quite sure he’s a "run-of-the-mill" Republican–but readers can judge for themselves.  Of course, it can not escape notice that the "core" faculty is notable mainly for its ideological commitments, not its pertinent expertise or scholarly distinction (with a couple of exceptions, like the distinguished classicist Karl Galinsky).  Even Rob–who is, as many readers will know, a very good philosophical logician and metaphysician–has not mainly worked on topics one would consider at the core of "Western civ."   The educational mission of these initiatives would be more credible, alas, if they did not appear to be staffed based on considerations of ideological purity.  But in the end, the proof will be in the pudding for these programs, i.e., what classes are really being offered and how they are being taught. 

Meanwhile, my beloved former institution, the University of Texas at Austin, had a great year last year, with two winners of the National Medal of Technology and three faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences, more than any other university.  If it weren’t for the bizarre U.S. News rankings of colleges, one might expect more people to realize that Texas is quite a bit better than almost all the state schools ranked ahead of it, except Berkeley, Michigan, and UCLA.