Who is Joseph P. Lindsley--and who is his colleague, John J. Miller? And what does Hillsdale College think about the odor of association that Miller is bringing with him to the Hillsdale campus?

As The Cable Gamer noted earlier today, Joseph P. Lindsley, the ingrate who is stabbing Roger and Beth Ailes in the back in Gawker, is a colleague of John J. Miller at the Student Free Press Association, a conservative student site.  Miller is the "chairman," and Lindsley is the "vice chairman"--big titles for a group that seems to consist of four people and not much of a budget. 

Here's Miller's personal website, screengrabbed above.   Miller seems like a nice enough conservative guy, but given his association with Lindsley, we can ask:  Should we judge Miller by the company he keeps?   And should we judge the SFPA?   Answer: Sure we should.  If Miller and SFPA have room for the likes of Lindsley, then we should think less of both Miller and SFPA.  TCG wonders who will give money to a non-profit, SFPA, that knifes the head of Fox News.

Surely if Miller wants to save SFPA as a viable organization, he will have to cut Lindsley loose. Although, of course, there's surely a risk in that, as Lindsley might well knife Miller, too, just as he did to Beth and Roger Ailes.  There's no need to worry about Lindsley, he'll get a job with Media Matters, where he can work for another conservative renegade, David Brock; it's Miller who should be worried, if he wants to say in conservative good graces.

And speaking of right-leaning non-profits, Miller, long associated with National Review in Washington DC, is taking an academic position at Hillsdale College in Michigan.  Here's what Miller says about his future plans on his personal site: 

This fall, I will become director of the Herbert H. Dow II Journalism Program at Hillsdale College in Michigan. It means the Miller family, which currently resides in Prince William County, Va., will move back to the land of its forefathers. That will probably happen this summer. In addition to teaching, I expect to keep on writing and will remain affiliated with National Review. 

So in addition to knowing about Lindlsey and wondering about Miller, we can also now begin to wonder about the judgment of both National Review and Hillsdale.   Yes, National Review is a great magazine and yes, Hillsdale is a well-respected conservative school, but one still must ask: What do we now know about Miller's judgment in friends and colleagues?  Is that what Hillsdale really wants?  Will having Miller around really help Hillsdale's national reputation?

In addition, if Hillsdale gets Miller as a new employee this fall, does that mean it will also get Lindsley somehow?   Hillsdale is innocent right now, because surely the administration of the school had nothing to do with any of this, but one wonders whether the president of Hillsdale, Larry Arnn, will have a talk with Miller about his association with Lindsley.   Arnn should ask, for example, whether Miller will have any contact with Lindsley, and whether he, Miller, will be able to either separate himself from SFPA or else separate Lindsley from SFPA.    Arnn should listen closely to the answer.  (And National Review editor Rich Lowry should ask Miller the same questions. )

Surely it's best for Miller and SFPA to cut their ties to Lindsley, before he takes them down, too.  And Hillsdale should review its relationship with Miller, before that fine college, too, gets some of Lindsley's poison.

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