<p>Is intellectual diversity lacking on U.S. college campuses? That is what the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is asking at a conference scheduled for mid-November. (The AEI is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit institution based in Washington DC that tackles issues related to government, politics, economics, and social welfare, founded in 1943. Lynne V. Cheney is a Senior Fellow - culture and education.) The AEI</p>
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has commissioned nineteen research papers from professors and prominent scholars to examine whether intellectual diversity is lacking on college campuses, whether conservative academics have more difficulty in attaining posts and promotions, and what the causes and degrees of bias are in specific disciplines: English, history, political science, psychology, linguistics, education, and the sciences. At this event, the authors of these studies will present the results of their empirical research and discuss possible reforms that may make academia more intellectually vibrant.
<p>AEI may be non-partisan in the sense of not overtly belonging to a party, but it is extremely right-wing. Home of many neo-conservatives, so it is hardly an objective observer. As George Bush said, “At the American Enterprise Institute, some of the finest minds in our nation are at work on some of the greatest challenges to our nation. You do such good work that my administration has borrowed 20 such minds.” Definitely not impartial.</p>
<p>So, no, originaloog, I doubt you’ll see those institutions studied.</p>
<p>Well, duh – academia is overwhelmingly left-wing in this country. All you really have to do is look through the course offerings at the top twenty schools. The titles alone are extraordinarily leftist in any of the social sciences or humanities areas. Makes it hard for a centrist parent to contemplate the price tag and obvious four years of indoctrination my kid is in for.</p>
<p>“notorious” is generally used to indicate that the renown is unfavorable. The fact that a recent college grad–who has possibly never read a single paper issued by that group–uses it says a lot to me.</p>
<p>AEI is a well-known conservative (in modern political parlance) think tank. There is no need for the pejorative modifier, unless you are predisposed to dismiss the results of the research.</p>
<p>originaloog, I don’t really think your point is relevant. No one goes to Oral Roberts U expecting an even-handed approach. Plenty of people, however, send their kids to private and public universities unaware that some faculty don’t even believe in the ideal of objective presentation of social science subject matter, much less make an attempt to be even-handed.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to the results of the study. I don’t have much hope that they will suggest anything workable in the event they document a “lack of intellectual vibrancy”, however.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in our country, “objective” has come to mean having a basis in reality. We are not supposed to ask questions. We are supposed to accept what we are told, and march to the beat of the drums in charge.</p>
<p>And that the American Enterprise Institute is investigating so called “bias” is laughable. They are totally biased themselves. Lynne Cheney??</p>
<p>I am a centrist, or at least I used to be before the last years, and I have no problem with my kids hearing alternative viewpoints. My son has a college course right now, Economics, and his professor is a very, very right wing teacher, with views that I think are abhorrent. So what?? My son can handle it, and argue his views with the professor. The professor can handle it too. </p>
<p>Exposure to a variety of viewpoints is what makes us able to analyze our own beliefs and see if they are logical. In my view, it is a real flaw in our society that we demonize each others’ beliefs, as opposed to argue them.</p>
<p>To think the AEI institute is Non partisan is being naive, and to think the “results” won’t be skewed to the right no matter what the real results are is also naive</p>
<p>Just cause they say they aren’t partisan, don’t make it so</p>
<p>Oh, you are just full of assumptions, aren’t you? I was a liberal well before I got to college - if anything I became more conservative in college - and yes, I have read papers by the AEI. And I had no idea what the political beliefs of most of my professors are, because, you know, it just doesn’t come up in a neuroscience or software engineering class. You can disagree with me, or my choice of wording, but please do not insult my intelligence and imply that I am brainwashed by academia.</p>
<p>That said, you’re right, I should have used a different choice of words there.</p>
<p>How does Occidental get lumped in with Oral Roberts? Just curious. I’ve always thought of Oxy as a fairly typical liberal LAC with a very diverse student body in a very diverse city. I mean, 15 percent Latino and 6.8 African American is not the profile you’ll see at Oral Roberts. </p>
<p>Whether or not the AEI is unbiased isn’t really the issue. Most schools, public ones included, are notoriously left-wing. Even most liberals would agree with that. Students are being short-changed when their universities are glorified indoctrination camps and they aren’t being informed about the other opinions and research out there. The result is largely ignorant graduates who believe what they’ve been told but are clueless when they come against someone who disagrees with them, leaving them with only ad hominem attacks in their arsenal.</p>
<p>I see I’m not the only one (mis?) using the word “notoriously” here. :p</p>
<p>I would agree that most people in academia are liberal - most faculty, and probably most students, though I suspect that varies a lot between schools. That doesn’t make the schools indoctrination camps. Individual cases may be, but they are not inherently so. I work in defense - I don’t consider the industry to be a conservative indoctrination camp that’s going to turn me into a right-winger.</p>
<p>Another Voice:
You decry ad hominem attacks, yet look at the loaded words you use:
notoriously left-wing
shortchanged
glorified indoctrination camps
aren’t being informed
ignorant graduates</p>
<p>Sadly, it is hard to have a discussion about an issue when you are blatantly smearing the other side. I don’t agree that schools are notoriously left-wing - I think they lean that way, but they just had that Muslim baiter, Horowitz, at Columbia. I don’t agree that students are shortchanged and indoctrinated. Would they be better staying home, and listening to right wing radio instead, to get a REAL education? (from two college dropouts, mind you) I don’t agree that the graduates are ignorant - some of the smartest minds in the country are coming out of our colleges, and I bet they are a lot less ignorant on what is going on in our world than most adults.</p>
<p>So how to discuss with you? It is very difficult to discuss after such ad hominem attacks.</p>
<p>Was “Smearing the other side?” not enough that it needed the “blatantly” qualifier? </p>
<p>A “centrist?” That must be a definition that matches the way we describe “centrist” colleges in the US … just a bit to the right of the far left! Unfortunately, not all coleges can mimic TC at Columbia for lack of bias.</p>
<p>And, please, can you share what are the very right-wing positions of that Econ teacher? Could it be non-socialistic theories?</p>
<p>Those are hardly ad hominems. If a private school that doesn’t receive taxpayer funds (like Grove City, for instance) wants to lean far left or right, that’s fine with me, though I think their students are shortchanged if the professors aren’t accurately presenting other opinions and why they’re held. I don’t think taxpayers should have to support universities that are overwhelmingly liberal, and I think we’re doing a disservice to the students who attend.</p>