A conservative professor has been named director of a new center for intellectual diversity at Ohio State University.
Dr. Lee Strang, professor of law at the University of Toledo, will serve as executive director of the new Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society.
“Lee is an exceptional constitutional lawyer with a wealth of administrative experience, and we are delighted that he is coming to the university to lead the new Salmon P. Chase Center,” said Karla Zadnik, interim vice president and provost of Ohio State University, in a statement. “Our shared goal is for the center to become a national leader in teaching, research, and engagement with U.S. civics, culture, and society.”
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Strang is also executive director of the Institute of Constitutional Thought and Leadership in Toledo. He has also served as a law clerk, practicing attorney, and author.
“Leading the Chase Center is an opportunity to be part of the solution as Americans of all backgrounds and views work together to renew our shared civic life,” Strang told the Ohio Capital Journal. “The Chase Center will do this by focusing on what unites us — ‘the historic ideas, traditions, and texts’ of our shared constitutional heritage — and doing so in a way — ‘free, open, and rigorous intellectual inquiry’ — that leads Americans to see one another as civic friends, united in the shared project of securing the common good for us all.”
Some criticize Strang’s conservative views and political involvement, such as his support of a bill that, if passed, would have created stricter requirements for changes to the Ohio Constitution.
“(Strang) is somehow hiding his political motivations for taking these undemocratic legal positions, and that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in someone who is open-minded and interested in intellectual diversity,” said Jani Pranav, president of the Association of University Professors at Ohio State.
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Others praised Strang’s selection, which was made by the Chase Center’s Academic Council, a group of “scholars with a national reputation for academic excellence.”
“Under his leadership, the Chase Center is well on its way to becoming one of the leading centers for civic education and leadership in our country,” said Council Member Jean Yarbrough, a professor at Bowdoin University.
The center was funded as part of a $24 million allocation for intellectual diversity centers in Ohio Senate Bill 117.
Once completed, the center will employ more than 15 tenured professors and focus on “teaching and research on the foundations of the American constitutional order and its impact on society.”
Campus reform has contacted Ohio State University and Lee Strang for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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