Dear

Spectator

Editorial Board,

In response to comments in the “HEAG Takes D.C.” article of April 21st, let me offer this clarification: Professor Gottfried did not speak on either race or “cognitive achievement” in my Modern Conservative Politics class last October, except to the limited extent that questions and challenges from students — which were perfectly legitimate and welcome — about remarks in some of his writings required him to briefly address his views on these topics.

His talk to the class was on his interpretation of the history and recent state of the American conservative movement. American conservatism, both intellectual and political, is a subject on which he has written

significant books, and on which he has focused much of his public com-

mentary.

Gottfried’s decades-long prominence in the conservative intellectual world is based largely on his extensive and highly knowledgeable — although highly opinionated — critique of the conservative movement, and, from his standpoint, the conservative establishment. He criticizes them on many grounds involving a wide range of issues. Furthermore, the occasional comments on both race and cognitive achievement or ability in his writings are not central, either to them or to his critique of conservative politics.

Unfortunately, it would be easy to get a mistaken impression of Gottfried’s qualifications — and of his presentation to my class — from President Wippman’s all-campus e-mail statement of last December.

If anyone is curious, my own views about one of Professor Gottfried’s several books on conservatism are stated in my contribution, titled “Gottfried’s Disconnect,” to a symposium in The Political Science Reviewer on his Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Sincerely,

David Frisk

Resident Fellow

Alexander Hamilton Institute