Von Hagen is at Columbia, so he must have been hired by History Dept chair Eric Foner and Columbia Provost Alan Brinkley (the late David Brinkley's son). Both Foner and Brinkley are way to the left, although I suppose there are some screaming lefties a bit to the left of them out there somewhere.
So Sulzberger went to the most accomodating and sympathetic academics he could find and he still got bad news about Duranty's Pulitzer. Looks like the jig is finally up with that fraudulent award.