Scott Beaulier is one of four presidential candidates being considered at NMU. He is an NMU alumnus of history and economics, and currently serves as H.A. True Family Dean of Business at the University of Wyoming. The presidential forums have passed, and Beaulier has shared his insights and motives with those attending.
When reviewing presidential candidates, students and staff typically look for a candidate who represents the school well. Students hope for a president who promotes diversity, empathy and overall respect for the student body.
Beaulier answered questions and comments at forums and meetings hosted this past week. The North Wind staff have witnessed NMU community members express concerns about Beaulier’s ideals and the potential harm caused if he were elected.
Andrew Plocher, a part-time NMU grad student and community member, reached out to The North Wind directly to provide information regarding Beaulier’s beliefs, as well as an economics paper he co-authored.
Plocher also wrote to the NMU Board of Trustees, who will vote on NMU’s next president tomorrow.
“I write to express deep concern about the candidacy of Scott Beaulier, who co-authored an academic article titled ‘Behavioral Economics and Perverse Effects of the Welfare State’ (Kyklos, 2007),” Plocher wrote. “In it, Beaulier and his co-author argue that recipients of government assistance are not just economically disadvantaged—they are behaviorally and cognitively deficient.”
Beaulier and his co-author wrote, “The average recipient of government assistance does not even come close” to rational expectations, and go on to claim that “the poor are much more prone to engage in such activities [as drug use, crime, and unprotected sex] than the rest of the population.”
“They frame these issues not as consequences of structural injustice but as “pathologies” rooted in poor decision-making,” said Plocher. “Their conclusion is not merely theoretical: it advances a policy framework that explicitly favors restricting the agency and autonomy of low–income people. To date, Beaulier has not publicly recanted, clarified, or rejected these views. That silence is not neutral. It is consent.”
Beaulier’s paper went on to state that “by giving the poor material support, we discourage them from getting jobs, aquiring experience, and eventually pulling themselves up by their bootstraps” (Kyklos, 2007).
Beaulier and his co-author also used sources from the studies of Herrnstein and Murray to make their claims. They directly quote their statement on page 497 of ‘Behavioral Economics and Perverse Effects of the Welfare State’ (Kyklos, 2007), saying, “How intelligent a woman is may interact with her impulsiveness, and hence her ability to exert self-discipline and restraint on her partner in order to avoid pregnancy (1994, p. 179).”
This quote can be interpreted as allowing the responsibility of conception to fall solely on the woman.
NMU community members are concerned about Beaulier’s respect for women, minorities and those in poverty.
“This matters because NMU is a public institution,” Plocher said. “Our student body includes first-generation students, working-class students, rural students, Indigenous students and others from communities often misrepresented in the very ways Beaulier’s paper describes.”
Plocher ended his letter by asking that the Board of Trustees consider their decisions further. His distress over Beaulier’s issues match those of many other NMU community members.
“I urge the Board to weigh not only his résumé, but the full implications of his published views and his ongoing refusal to distance himself from them, NMU’s students, and its future, deserve a leader who believes in their potential, not one who doubts their worth,” Plocher said.
In the coming days, the NMU Board will name the 18th president of NMU. Community members of NMU continue to warn.
Editor’s note: This story has been revised after a response was received from Scott Beaulier.
