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Such creative use of numbers would make Obama and Clinton ... conservative to moderate.
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<p>Perhaps, but it is pretty significant that when presented with the option, 56% of the faculty at the nation's elite colleges did NOT identify themselves as liberal.</p>
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Their news pages vary between well-balanced and unwilling to challenge the dominant viewpoint of the time.
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<p>I wouldn't call it well-balanced if it fails to at least address the challenges to the dominant viewpoint of the time. And it really works both ways -- both liberals and conservatives have good reason to bemoan the news reporting of the Times.</p>
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I honestly do not know the political beliefs of almost any of the professors I've had (except to the extent that guessing liberal is more likely to be right). Given that, I would say their political affiliations were irrelevant. Why does it matter if a classicist, or a physicist, or an anthropologist is liberal or conservative? And if it doesn't matter, then why do conservatives get so worked up about it?
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<p>Bingo. </p>
<p>I was provided with a fine appreciation of Hayek, Kant, Burke, Friedman, et. al. from professors who were personally, quite liberal.</p>
<p>And for the 75 percent of classes that I took that had no direct application to politics, it was a non-issue.</p>
<p>Hawkette, you are barking up the wrong tree. Feel free to rave about how awesome the tailgating scene is at Vanderbilt, and how Rice baseball is more intense than a Harvard-Cornell hockey game, but this is just silly.</p>
<p>Svalbard,
We most assuredly won’t agree on political matters, but that was not the point of this thread. Yet I wonder how much exposure you have had to other regions of the country and what non-northeastern media you consume on a regular basis. The opinions you present are accurate….if you believe the template of conservatism as provided by the NYT. My view is that the NYT template (Republicans are racists, homophobes, gun-totin’, Bible-thumping bigots, etc) is far from accurate if you actually live and work and do business and know the people who are in Red State America. It is these unfortunate mischaracterizations by both sides that have led to much of the political stalemates we have seen in Washington and elsewhere in our country. </p>
<p>In any event, our political differences notwithstanding, the purpose of the thread was to shine a light on the dominant political ideology and voting patterns of academia generally and especially at America’s elite colleges. I would agree with you and hope that these liberal opinions don’t find their way into campus life, but human nature being what it is, I wonder if this is even possible. Either way, I think you would agree that if the numbers were reversed and conservatives dominated the ranks of college faculties, it might be you or some other liberal pointing out these great imbalances. </p>
<p>As for your dismissal of Peggy Noonan as a political hack, I wonder if you have read many of her columns. A gifted writer, she clearly has conservative bona fides, but she also has a balance to her columns that might surprise. I strongly suggest you read her weekly columns (found on Drudge on Fridays and in the weekend edition of the WSJ). Here are a few recent ones:</p>
<p>Declarations</a> - WSJ.com</p>
<p>Declarations</a> - WSJ.com</p>
<p>Declarations</a> - WSJ.com</p>
<p>Declarations</a> - WSJ.com</p>
<p>Declarations</a> - WSJ.com</p>
<p>Finally, a quick word on Bush. He may be a Republican, but he has certainly not governed like a conservative. IMO, he and the Republicans blew their opportunity in so many ways and the 2006 and 2008 elections will be their deserved payback. </p>
<p>Bay,
While “only” 56% of the elite college faculty may have identified themselves as liberal, please note that only 10% identified themselves as conservatives. </p>
<p>Cayuga,
I’m not proclaiming one side as right or wrong (though I’m not sure if this courtesy is being returned). I know that there will be no winners here in such a discussion. But I am intending to inform those who may not be aware of the dominant political tendencies among academia. I can’t see how doing so is seen as barking up the wrong tree…unless someone has something that they’d like to hide. </p>
<p>And I hope you noticed that the Rice Owls made it to the College World Series again this year and I’m sure that the folks at Vanderbilt are already looking forward to their fabulous football tailgates this fall. :)</p>
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I was provided with a fine appreciation of Hayek, Kant, Burke, Friedman, et. al. from professors who were personally, quite liberal.
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</p>
<p>Since this is an education forum, could we speculate about how many of those liberals would offer an objective appraisal of the views of Milton Friedman on ... education? Do you think Milton Friedman is popular at Columbia's Teachers College? </p>
<p>Could we really expect an objective appraisal of the role of the NEA or AFT in education by any of those fine liberal minds?</p>
<p>It's just like how the majority of college students at top schools are liberal. This shouldn't come as any surprise, as, more intelligent people are more likely to be liberal just as people who live in the South are more likely to be conservative and people who live in the North are more likely to be liberal. The list goes on and on. Furthermore, these numbers aren't as drastic as I expected them to be, hawkette is grossly overstating the "dominant liberal faculty". Xiggi's claim that "the numbers posted by Hawkette are nothing short of appalling" is absolute rubbish. It's especially funny that a conservative calls on colleges to "mimic the political distribution of the country" when on the same hand they will be fighting mad if a college tried to "mimic the racial or socioeconomic distribution of the country" Also, as mentioned earlier, it does not matter the political affiliation of your Professor for the majority of your classes.</p>
<p>hawkette, you have chosen to grossly mischaracterize my view of Republicans who I have not called bigots or homophobes (though do you really want to deny that homophobia is more common in the Republican party? - I think polls make that fairly clear), said anything about guns, or called anyone "Bible-thumping" except so far as I have criticized the intelligent design movement (which, again, polls make pretty clear is much more a Republican problem that a Democratic one, though both parties have it to some extent).
My views of Republican anti-intellectualism come from the ways that Republican politicians actually campaign. The "you know nothing about Red State American" line is entirely crap. I grew up in California, but not in San Francisco, but rather in Orange County, a hotbed of conservatism. I've had plenty of exposure to conservatives. I also know conservatives who are not anti-intellectual (in large part because I'm a Yale student, I don't really know many from back home), and that's part of why I think the Conservative movement is anti-intellectual - may of them have made reviving and re-enlivening Conservative intellectualism their life's ambition, because they too agree that the movement has a problem here.
Again this notion that I've been calling Conservatives bad people only comes from you repeating a straw man that you like to repeatedly use against liberals. I've called Conservatives anti-intellectual. I, for one, don't think that has any relation to how good a person you are, but it certainly has a relation to whether you're likely to end up in academia.</p>
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It's just like how the majority of college students at top schools are liberal. This shouldn't come as any surprise, as, more intelligent people are more likely to be liberal
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<p>That statement hardly seems to confirm your claims about intelligence and political affiliation. </p>
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It's especially funny that a conservative calls on colleges to "mimic the political distribution of the country" when on the same hand they will be fighting mad if a college tried to "mimic the racial or socioeconomic distribution of the country"
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</p>
<p>Cervantes, I think the school you're about to attend would be a much better place were it to "mimic the political distribution of the country" and would especially be better if it did "mimic the racial or socioeconomic distribution of the country."</p>
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I can’t see how doing so is seen as barking up the wrong tree…
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<p>Because there is nothing to talk about. No study has ever been able to document any sort of systemic bias against conservative students or faculty in academia, regardless of whether it would come in the form of teaching experiences, grading decisions, or tenure decisions. It's a non-issue. </p>
<p>If you want to talk about something, discuss administrative policies outside of the faculty -- in terms of student health, residence life, disciplinary action, etc. I think there are non-trivial differences in these types of policies across campuses and that they can significantly affect the quality of one's undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>What i think is really sad is the fact that ppl feel they can call an entire group anti-intellectual, i mean have you heard of the hoover institute, or the CATO institute, or the heritage foundation? Outside of the more polarizing figures of conservatism i.e. Ann Coulter (who btw went to Cornell and UMichgan for law school) and Bill O'Riley (who worked as a teacher, hardly a job for money and certainly more alturistic than being a proffesor), conservative thought is dominated by intelligent ppl. Conservatism as a political ideology is as equal as liberalism. But really is tired to try to mischarterize an entire group. For intellectuals look to Thomas Sowell or Condellza. But if Conservative = dumb, than Stanford shouldn't be high up on the list of "smart" colleges.</p>
<p>i don't mean to offend or denigrate anyone, but comeon by placing false labels on ppl and groups it just further divides a nation and cause a democratic controlled congress, and a republican presidency to do NOTHING for the nation. I mean let's not forget we're Americans and thats the ONLY thing that matters ;)!</p>
<p>Almost everyone in my AP and honors classes are liberals or libertarians, but a lot of the kids in the standard classes are racist christian conservatives...(Being a Hispanic in a predominately white school I've received more than my fair share of insults from the "DEY TOOK ER JOBS!" crowd)</p>
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Because there is nothing to talk about. No study has ever been able to document any sort of systemic bias against conservative students or faculty in academia, regardless of whether it would come in the form of teaching experiences, grading decisions, or tenure decisions. It's a non-issue.
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</p>
<p>Do you really need a study to document that a bias might exist when there are real life examples?</p>
<p>What does a headline such as "Conservative Professor Fights Smith's Tenure Decision?" See Conservative</a> Professor Fights Smith's Tenure Decision - News - Students For Academic Freedom</p>
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Miller says the reason is he's a conservative Republican. And the college grievance committee agrees he wasn't treated fairly, saying "the rationale for their votes included consideration of matters that infringed on the candidate's right to academic freedom."
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<p>Google the rest of the stories about James D. Miller.</p>
<p>There's bias both ways.</p>
<p>University</a> denies tenure to outspoken Holocaust academic | World news | The Guardian</p>
<p>A liberal Jewish Professor at DePaul University is denied tenure due to his views that claims of Antisemitism is used as fuel for the harsh Israeli policies against the Palestinians. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with him, but his work is certainly one of academic merit and it is definitely debatable if Israeli policies against the Palestinians are measured/fair especially considering America is their biggest backer. Just as it is debatable whether or not conservative republicans have the bright ideas. It is only to be expected that people with polarizing views <em>may</em> have their rights trampled upon, liberal or conservative. This is not singular to the academia, in fact I'd say that people probably have MORE rights in regards to their views in the academia than in other institutions.</p>
<p>That case at DePaul was an anomaly. That professor was a very strange bird indeed. Clearly an exception.</p>
<p>There are very few truly conservative schools in the United States. Bob Jones is the most notable, Liberty University is another. But the rest are largely "conservative" because kids come from country club republican families, not because the faculty is "conservative". </p>
<p>The stats are very clear as provided earlier. There is a HUGE problem with faculty hiring only liberals and conservatives being in the small minority on any college campus. </p>
<p>I had a professor in college who was VERY conservative (Claremont Mens College, B.A., Stanford M.A and PhD) who taught American Political Philosophy of the 20th Century: Lippman, Dewey, Ayn Rand sort of stuff. He was an Ayn Rand devotee. He didnt get tenure. He was BRILLIANT...a bit nutty at times, but positively a brilliant man and an outstanding professor who taught me a whole lot, even though I DESPISE Ayn Rand with passion.</p>
<p>Stanford has the conservative Hoover Institute, but its an unusual circumstance and overall the university is fairly liberal. </p>
<p>People may have "rights" in academia, but there is a subtle and pervasive punishment for those who espouse views contrary to the liberal bent at too many places, in too many classes. Some professors are very subtle about downgrading papers of conservative students..nitpicking, while letting gross errors slide in liberal papers. I have seen it over and over.</p>
<p>Liberals need more help in school given that the justice department hires conservatives 5-1 or something like that. Did you hear that story?</p>
<p>I'm curious as to whether anyone here could say that they have had a negative experience in an academic setting due to a professor's political persuasion?</p>
<p>I attended both undergraduate and professional schools and have never had such an experience -- and I took many philosophy, religion and history courses.</p>
<p>Have the times changed that much?</p>
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He didnt get tenure. He was BRILLIANT...a bit nutty at times, but positively a brilliant man and an outstanding professor who taught me a whole lot,
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</p>
<p>But did he make any significant contributions to the discipline?</p>
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What does a headline such as "Conservative Professor Fights Smith's Tenure Decision?" See Conservative Professor Fights Smith's Tenure Decision - News - Students For Academic Freedom
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</p>
<p>It means that a professor who was denied tenure believes that he he was denied tenure due to political reasons. There may or may not be merit to his allegations. The case is being re-valuated.</p>
<p>Liberal and conservative professors get denied tenure all the time. It's rather difficult to get tenure. Just because conservative professors cry foul doesn't mean that there is merit to it.</p>
<p>Cincinnatistudent, I read that story on Time! Apparently resumes containing words like "social justice" doesn't help you get internship programs at the Justice Department but if you are affiliated with a conservative organization in any way, the opposite happens.</p>
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It means that a professor who was denied tenure believes that he he was denied tenure due to political reasons. There may or may not be merit to his allegations. The case is being re-valuated.
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<p>Of course, Cayuga. Of course! Way to go in ignoring the facts such as Smith’s Grievance Committee siding with Miller’s in rejecting the outcome of Miller's tenure review and the alleged lack of scholarship and publishing. </p>
<p>I am not certain what you mean by the "case being re-valuated." Dr. Miller was granted tenure shortly after the original denial that seemed indefensible --except for the usual political zealots -- was reversed. He must have been beefing up his c.v. quite rapidly to please the Smith liberal faculty on the rebound!</p>