At Hamline’s campus newspaper, Pravda On Snelling, student writer Zachary Knudson notes that notwithstanding the fact that his paper had reported that Tom Emmer had been hired, he had not.   It was an un-offer, Winston.  It never happened.

OK, the paper is actually called The Oracle, but you get the picture.

Anyway, Knudson’s piece tidies up some of the narrative loose ends of the Emmer flap – and leaves a huge, red, “McCarthyite” siren blazing.  Knudson quotes Professor David “Tailgunner Dave” Schultz:

Schultz said that after staff began hearing about the possibility of Emmer joining the Hamline faculty, e-mails were drafted by some staff members to be sent to administration outlining their concerns over the hiring of Emmer.

Schultz said that the faculty was concerned for two major reasons, including whether the political positions Emmer holds were incompatible with the university’s mission, specifically his stance on same-sex marriage.

“Two major reasons?”  What was the other?

As to same-sex marriage?  For starters, Emmer’s position on the issue is in line with that of well over half of Minnesotans, including, I suspect, a majority of Democrat voters.  Is it Hamline’s position that only people who believe in the overthrow of traditional marriage may teach at Hamline?

Given that same sex marriage is one of those “Things White People Like” – blacks and latinos are much more traditionally-minded on marriage than us crackers are – does that mean that the University must screen double-dog hard to get only politically pure black and latino faculty? Or do black and latino faculty get a pass on this issue?  How about the “students of color” – do they get a pass, or are they at Hamline to be re-educated?

And here’s the clinker; Emmer didn’t talk about gay marriage during the governor’s race.  Not at all.  Indeed, one of the reasons I supported him was because of an appearance on the NARN at the State Fair in 2009; when someone from the audience asked him what he thought about gay marriage, Emmer responded instantly “I don’t care – this race is about jobs and spending”. Only the DFL ” Alliance For A “Better” Minnesota” focused on gay marriage during the race; Emmer stayed focused on the economy.  And he may have left a lot of pro-tradtional marriage swing voters on the table – maybe enough to cost the election.

So what we have here is Hamline University essentially admitting that they have a McCarthyite screening process for political correctness; a faculty veto on faculty that represent, in fact, any kind of ideological diversity.