Philosophy professor from Michigan to be new director

A University of Michigan philosophy professor known for his work defending free speech and increasing political diversity in higher education will be the new director of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization.

Daniel Jacobson will take over as director in the fall, stepping into the role currently held by Interim Director Ben Hale.

Hale said he is looking forward to returning to his work as an associate professor.

“It’s been great and wonderful working with the center, but I’m a faculty member at CU, so I am perfectly happy doing my research,” he said.

Benson Center leaders went through an extensive search process over the summer and interviewed four candidates on campus in the fall, Hale said. Jacobson

rose to the top.

“His work is very much in line with the mission of the Benson Center,” Hale said. “I think we’re lucky to have him and I think we will all be enriched by his presence — that sounds a little corny, but it’s true.”

Jacobson’s work includes ethics, moral psychology and aesthetics and he has held fellowships at the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies and the Princeton University Center for Human Values.

He also founded and leads the Freedom and Flourishing Project at the University of Michigan, which works to promote classical liberalism and to increase political and ideological diversity in academia.

Jacobson said he was drawn to the job because he believes in the Benson Center’s mission.

“Western civilization deserves to be considered honestly and frankly in its triumphs and its failures,” he said. “A lot of universities are getting away from that and look at western civilization only critically, while I think everything should be looked at critically. Western civilization leaves a marvelous legacy we can learn a lot from, so we should be studying it not just for its defects but for its triumphs as well.”

Jacobson said he’s excited about initiatives that are already in the works at the Benson Center, including an interdisciplinary philosophy, politics and economics program. He also wants to raise local and national awareness of the center.

“There should be more places like this and more people doing what the center is doing, and one way to do that is to have more people know about it,” he said.

Jacobson will also be the Bruce D. Benson Endowed Professor of Philosophy, a new position funded by the Bruce D. Benson Legacy Endowment Fund.