I should first mention that the article I'm referring to is extraordinarily fair--a shining example of what I think journalism should look like--it deals with a controversial issue that fairly begs to be demagogued, but which the author treats with balance.

Phil Mitchell is a non-tenured professor at CU who is very popular with his students (he teaches social history...), has nine children and is known as a pleasant guy.

He's also a Christian, which doesn't go over too well with those "tolerant" liberals at CU (or anywhere else for that matter...)

So is he being fired for cause or because he is ideologically non-conformist?

The author doesn't make a judgment, but does call on CU president Hank Brown to make thoroughly investigate the situation. Considering CU's recent travails, that seems like very good advice.

I don't have to be quite that fair-minded. The public controversies over academic hirings and firings have been bolstered by the stories told to me by my many friends in academia. Everything--absolutely everything, is political in academia. Not surprising in an environment that lacks the exigencies of a market economy, the social hierarchy is the predominant driver of who's in and who's out.

Its less a problem in those fields where success can be more objectively defined, which is why all your most strident lefties are in arts and literature.