Two history professors explain why they quit the Miller Center

Related Link An interview with William I. Hitchcock (NPR)

Hiring Marc Short, the former White House legislative director, to help scholars understand the Trump presidency is like welcoming H.R. Haldeman into your university at the height of Watergate and asking him for insights into Nixon. Sure, he knows a thing or two. But is he a trustworthy guide?

On Monday, we resigned our faculty positions at the Miller Center, a small but influential public affairs research organization at the University of Virginia, in protest over its decision to offer a paid senior fellowship to Short.

The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of U-Va. that houses some two dozen scholars of presidential history and occasionally awards temporary appointments to former government officials. So why the fuss about Short? Shouldn’t we be welcoming a Trump official into our ranks? Aren’t we professionally obligated to “talk to both sides”?

Our decision, a painful one, had nothing to do with unwillingness to engage with policymakers with whom we disagree. We’ve spent our careers studying controversial decisions and controversial people. As sponsors of conferences and lectures, we have always invited those of differing opinions from across the political spectrum. We have worked with former ambassador Eric Edelman, who advised Dick Cheney on national security, as well as Melody Barnes, a leading domestic policy adviser to Barack Obama.

But the Marc Short decision was different from previous appointments at the center because Donald Trump is different from previous presidents. The Trump presidency has taken the country into uncharted waters, and it has presented an especially tough challenge for scholars. By breaking the norms of presidential behavior, by upending the rules of civil discourse, by casting doubt on the meaning of truth and by embracing the rhetoric of racism and white supremacy, Trump has departed sharply from recent historical precedents. ...