A conservative Michigan State University professor who wrote a chapter in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has received threats for his involvement in the controversial political policy paper.
MSU law Professor Adam Candeub told the Detroit News he has been sent “threatening emails from strangers” regarding his work, but declined to comment further to the newspaper with any specifics.
Candeub’s scholarly research “focuses on telecommunication, antitrust, and Internet issues,” according to a bio of him in the 922-page project paper, which notes he served as acting assistant secretary of commerce and deputy associate attorney general at the U.S. Justice Department during the Trump Administration.
The Project 2025 paper states: “Discussing the Federal Trade Commission, Adam Candeub writes in Chapter 30, ‘Antitrust law can combat dominant firms’ baleful effects on democratic’ notions—’such as free speech, the marketplace of ideas, shareholder control, and managerial accountability as well as collusive behavior with government.'”
The paper continues: “Under the Biden FTC, he writes, firms try ‘to get out of antitrust liability by offering climate, diversity, or other forms of ESG-type offerings.’ Candeub says that state AGs ‘are far more responsive to their constituents’ than the federal government generally is, and he recommends that the FTC establish a position in the chairman’s office that is ‘focused on state AG cooperation and inviting state AGs to Washington, DC, to discuss enforcement policy in key sectors under the FTC’s jurisdiction: Big Tech, hospital mergers, supermarket mergers, and so forth.”
Candeub’s activities outside of his work hours at MSU are “protected,” one peer told the Detroit News:
Candueb’s conservative work is getting attention at MSU because it bucks the notion of a “strong correlation between education and leaning left,” said Casey O’Donnell, an MSU associate professor in the Department of Media and Information.
“Clearly, this is something the professor has done research on, and what faculty members do on their own time, it’s as protected as (anyone else’s),” O’Donnell said. “We are free to say what we want, but we are not free from the consequences. What we say is not disconnected from what people think of us.”
When asked about Candeub’s contribution to Project 2025, MSU officials said the university embraces academic freedom.
“It gives faculty members the freedom to address their academic subjects, challenge conventional wisdom, and publish controversial research papers,” MSU spokesperson Mark Bullion said. “Adam Candeub does not speak for MSU. And he has not violated any university policies by being involved with Project 2025.”
The newspaper also interviewed several MSU law students who said they accept the law professor’s personal opinions, including Tristyn Meyer, a second-year MSU law student.
“He has every right to do whatever he wants. Even though I fundamentally disagree with the Heritage Foundation and fundamentally disagree with the cult of personality of Donald Trump, in our current political climate, I think ostracizing people is the wrong move and is only going to make things worse,” Meyer told the newspaper.
The Heritage Foundation describes Project 2025 as a group of 45-plus “right-of-center organizations that are ready to get into the business of restoring this country through the combination of the right policies and well-trained people.”
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IMAGE: Center for Renewing America
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