Campus cleansing

Education: A conservative Christian is banished from a university's supposed marketplace of ideas | Mark Bergin

Phil Mitchell wants his job back. For 17 years, the University of Colorado graduate taught courses in U.S. history and Western Civilization at his alma mater in Boulder, earning some of the highest student evaluation scores in the school's history. But earlier this year, university officials began nitpicking Mitchell's teaching methods and questioning his pedagogical ability. In June, the star instructor received official notice that CU was terminating his employment.

Why? Mitchell calls the move "an outrageous injustice clearly motivated by religious bigotry." Unlike the overwhelming majority of his colleagues, he is a politically and theologically conservative Christian—and an outspoken one, to boot.