(UPDATED, 12:25 p.m., to report that Yenor remains a Boise State University faculty member.)
Scott Yenor has taken a Florida-based job with a conservative think tank seeking to “stop woke policies” at the state level.
However, the polarizing political science professor remains a Boise State University faculty member, a university spokesman said Thursday afternoon.
The Claremont Institute announced Yenor’s hire over Twitter Wednesday, saying Yenor will be the think tank’s inaugural senior director of state coalitions. The job will be based in Tallahassee, Fla.
“The Claremont Institute has been fighting to stop woke policies and Florida is on the frontlines of that fight,” the group tweeted Wednesday. “We are thrilled to help Gov. (Ron) DeSantis and his legislative allies continue this important work.”
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis tweeted as well; “Thrilled to welcome @scottyenor from the Claremont Institute to his new home in Tallahassee.”
But Yenor, a Boise State faculty member since 2000, has not left the university.
“Professor Scott Yenor is on sabbatical from Boise State University and remains a faculty member,” university spokesman Mike Sharp said Thursday.
According to Transparent Idaho, the state’s online checkbook, Yenor receives an annual salary of $67,828 from Boise State.
Yenor did not immediately respond to emails from Idaho EdNews Thursday.
Controversy has marked Yenor’s tenure at Boise State and his time in Idaho — particularly over the past two years:
- In the summer of 2021, Yenor served on a task force assembled by then-Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin — a hand-picked group charged with seeking out evidence of indoctrination at the K-12 and higher education level.
- In an October 2021 speech to a National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Fla., Yenor labeled career-oriented women as “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome,” and called colleges and universities “citadels of our gynocracy,” undermining the traditional family. When video of the speech went viral, Boise State fielded numerous calls and emails demanding that the university fire or sanction Yenor — while some parents said they would no longer consider sending their children to the university. (Click here for our in-depth report on the Yenor public relations firestorm.)
- Last month, while on university sabbatical, Yenor spoke at Eagle High School, at the invitation of a conservative group. Dozens of students jeered Yenor and walked out on his speech, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Yenor has a number of ties to conservative groups.
In connection with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a hardline political organization, Yenor has co-authored white papers criticizing social justice programs on the state’s campuses — including Boise State.
Previously, the Claremont Institute has listed Yenor as a fellow with its Center for the American Way of Life.
The Claremont, Calif.-based think tank says its mission is “to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.”