(July 14, 2009) "Nearly all my professors are Democrats. Isn't that a problem?" (by Dan Lawton, CSM via RCP)

[LadyLazarus]

As someone who works in academia, I can vouch that everything said in this article is true. Most of my students have complained that there is no diversity of opinion in academia and that they are penalized when they express any other viewpoint than a liberal one. The writer of the article thinks this is very dangerous situation, do you? I know that I came into the university as a conservative, having been raised by republican parents, and was transformed into a liberal democrat in less than 4 years. Obviously I no longer subscribe to either party's group-think, but still this has me thinking . . .

------
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0713/p09s02-coop.html

from the July 13, 2009 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0713/p09s02-coop.html
Nearly all my professors are Democrats. Isn't that a problem?
After I posed that question, two faculty railed against me. That's a sure sign that universities should address the lack of ideological diversity.
By Dan Lawton

Eugene, Ore.

When I began examining the political affiliation of faculty at the University of Oregon, the lone conservative professor I spoke with cautioned that I would "make a lot of people unhappy."

Though I mostly brushed off his warning – assuming that academia would be interested in such discourse – I was careful to frame my research for a column for the school newspaper diplomatically.

The University of Oregon (UO), where I study journalism, invested millions annually in a diversity program that explicitly included "political affiliation" as a component. Yet, out of the 111 registered Oregon voters in the departments of journalism, law, political science, economics, and sociology, there were only two registered Republicans.

A number of conservative students told me they felt Republican ideas were frequently caricatured and rarely presented fairly. Did the dearth of conservative professors on campus and apparent marginalization of ideas on the right belie the university's commitment to providing a marketplace of ideas?

In my column, published in the campus newspaper The Oregon Daily Emerald June 1, I suggested that such a disparity hurt UO. I argued that the lifeblood of higher education was subjecting students to diverse viewpoints and the university needed to work on attracting more conservative professors.

I also suggested that students working on right-leaning ideas may have difficulty finding faculty mentors. I couldn't imagine, for instance, that journalism that supported the Iraq war or gun rights would be met with much enthusiasm.

What I didn't realize is that journalism that examined the dominance of liberal ideas on campus would be addressed with hostility.

A professor who confronted me declared that he was "personally offended" by my column. He railed that his political viewpoints never affected his teaching and suggested that if I wanted a faculty with Republicans I should have attended a university in the South. "If you like conservatism you can certainly attend the University of Texas and you can walk past the statue of Jefferson Davis everyday on your way to class," he wrote in an e-mail.

I was shocked by such a comment, which seemed an attempt to link Republicans with racist orthodoxy. When I wrote back expressing my offense, he neither apologized nor clarified his remarks.

Instead, he reiterated them on the record. Was such a brazen expression of partisanship representative of the faculty as a whole? I decided to speak with him in person in the hope of finding common ground.

He was eager to chat, and after five minutes our dialogue bloomed into a lively discussion. As we hammered away at the issue, one of his colleagues with whom he shared an office grew visibly agitated. Then, while I was in mid-sentence, she exploded.

"You think you're so [expletive] cute with your little column," she told me. "I read your piece and all you want is attention. You're just like Bill O'Reilly. You just want to get up on your [expletive] soapbox and have people look at you."

From the disgust with which she attacked me, you would have thought I had advocated Nazism. She quickly grew so emotional that she had to leave the room. But before she departed, she stood over me and screamed.

"You understand that my column was basically a prophesy," I shot back. I had suggested right-leaning ideas weren't welcome on campus and in response the faculty had tied my viewpoints to racism and addressed me with profanity-laced insults.

What's so remarkable is that I hadn't actually advocated Republican ideas or conservative ideas. In fact, I'm not a conservative, nor a Republican. I simply believe in the concept of diversity – a primarily liberal idea – and think that we suffer when we don't include ideas we find unappealing.

After my article on political diversity was published, I received numerous e-mails from students at other schools who spoke of similar experiences. As a result of my research and personal experience, I can now say without reservation that the lack of ideological diversity on college campuses is a dangerous threat to free and open discourse in academia. Sadly, there are few perfect solutions.

One proposal considered by universities is endowing a chair of conservative thought to lure a high-profile conservative scholar to campus. However, this has the potential to exacerbate partisan tensions by sanctioning an explicitly ideological position.

A more draconian option is to enact a political litmus test and mandate that Republicans fill a certain number of positions, but doing so would exclude many qualified professors and be unfairly discriminatory.

The fact is that political diversity, like many diversity efforts, is something that cannot be created through edict, but only by a concerted effort on the behalf of those in power. While hiring on the basis of party affiliation isn't the answer to reducing political discrimination, denying that political beliefs influence pedagogy is simply naive.

Faculties in ideological departments should examine the body of work of a candidate to see if it fills a shortcoming. In a department of journalism or political science, a professor with a right-leaning perspective would not only provide a balance in curriculum, but a potential mentor to conservative students who feel isolated in their beliefs. At left-leaning universities, such professors should be aggressively pursued.

Above all, deans, provosts, and professors must not allow their aversion to conservative ideas to manifest so contemptuously.

Political disagreement is crucial to vibrant discourse, but not in the form of caricatures, slights, or mockery.

Students should never come under personal attack from faculty members for straying from the party line. The fact that they do shows how easily political partisanship can corrupt the elements of higher education that should be valued the most.

Dan Lawton is a freelance journalist and journalism student at the University of Oregon.

[Horizon]

As a native Oregonian, might I suggest this person pick a LESS liberal area then the one where U Of O is??? There is no more liberal area in the entire state than that in, and around Eugene, Or. Possibly even the nation.

While I do not disagree that by and large most College Profs. lean liberal, using the U Of O as an example was not very smart.:rolleyes: Of course the large majority are liberal, I'm shocked there was even one conservative on staff there!

[LadyLazarus]

Of course the large majority are liberal, I'm shocked there was even one conservative on staff there!

Totally agree! Two things are really frowned upon in academia: (1) religion and (2) conservativism. "Intellectuals" associate both with dark and sinister events in history and with flawed thinking. Not saying I agree with it, but it's just what people think in this sector.

One of the profs cited in the article suggested the writer go to U of Texas if he wanted more conservationism. My experience dealing with universities all over the country is that liberalism is the rule no matter what geographical region in the U.S. What I'm trying to figure out is why this is the case? How did this come to be? What is it about "education" that transforms most academics into "liberals" ? And when you go to the university, given this state of affairs, are you being truly educated or propagandized?

And the question I have for you Meredith is did you go to a university in Oregon? And if so, were you liberal before or after your experience? Or not at all?

[TheTaoOfBill]

It really doesn't help that the republicans have built this anti-intellectual base.

Have you heard some of the rhetoric coming from republicans? Anyone who graduates from an ivy league school is considered an elitist.

Republicans are against most additions to school funding and they tend to be against most conventional ways to get inner city students into college.

They also tend to be against university research funding. Which is probably why a recent pew poll determined that only 6% of scientists support republicans. (http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1549)

[Spang]

...a recent pew poll determined that only 6% of scientists support republicans. (http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1549)

Most scientists are atheist or agnostic, too.

[Laura Cereta]

As a native Oregonian, might I suggest this person pick a LESS liberal area then the one where U Of O is??? There is no more liberal area in the entire state than that in, and around Eugene, Or. Possibly even the nation.

While I do not disagree that by and large most College Profs. lean liberal, using the U Of O as an example was not very smart.:rolleyes: Of course the large majority are liberal, I'm shocked there was even one conservative on staff there!

I took 10 years of higher education from FL institutions. While FL is considered a swing state nationally, our state politics are decidedly red. Repubs outnumber Dems 2 to 1 in the state legislature; they outnumber them in the state supreme court; our gov. is a RINO, and we had JEB BUSH :eek: as gov. for 8 yrs!

That being said, 99% of my professors were not Democrats; they were pure European socialists. My textbooks almost all espoused socialist views. Nobody cared that the other side wasn't being presented. Nobody cared that they were paying for an education that came with an underlying political agenda.

I'm glad this article was written.

[TheTaoOfBill]

Most scientists are atheist or agnostic, too.

Which makes them evil and their opinions shouldn't count.

[CGP]

That might explain why I thoroughly enjoyed my years at university. I was in the right place.

[TheTaoOfBill]

I took 10 years of higher education from FL institutions. While FL is considered a swing state nationally, our state politics are decidedly red. Repubs outnumber Dems 2 to 1 in the state legislature; they outnumber them in the state supreme court; our gov. is a RINO, and we had JEB BUSH :eek: as gov. for 8 yrs!

That being said, 99% of my professors were not Democrats; they were pure European socialists. My textbooks almost all espoused socialist views. Nobody cared that the other side wasn't being presented. Nobody cared that they were paying for an education that came with an underlying political agenda.

I'm glad this article was written.

It's pretty much fact that most professors are liberal. But again...the only people to blame for that is the party that has again and again failed the education system because they are unwilling to fund education and research in the way it should be funded. And because they insist on trying to fill academic curriculum with Christian mythology.

Perhaps if conservatives put more effort in pleasing teachers and making sure our kids get a proper education they wouldn't see so many teachers taking a very anti republican position.

Pro education issues are important to teachers. And again and again the republicans are on the wrong side of the education debate.

[jlynne]

I think Tao inadvertently identified the problem when he referred to an anti-intellectual base. The definition of "intellectual" is so entertwined with the definition of "modern liberalism" that college professors are hard pressed to find someone with "conservative ideologies" that they don't find overly superstitious (i.e. God fearing) or woefully out of date in their thinking (how could you not believe in evolution)? Professors think it is their duty to "enlighten" students as part of their "intellectual" development. So colleges suffer from a form of "institutional bias" that makes Republicans, Libertarians, and the like unwelcome on many, many campuses.

[LadyLazarus]

That being said, 99% of my professors were not Democrats; they were pure European socialists.

Yeah, but I would go even further. The university I work in is now actually "importing" its faculty on a mass scale from Europe. When these individuals, for whatever reason, don't get on tenure track, they are then brought in through visiting professorships etc and some of them actually stay in the university for years like this.

Some of my students have privately complained that they cannot even understand half of what some of their professors are saying because the communication issues are so egregious.

So we're importing our professors as much as our reality television hosts --think Simon Cowell, Cat Deely, Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne et al

[Spang]

Ben Stein is an intellectual who believes in intelligent design. I'm sure there are many more just like him.

[CGP]

Yeah, but I would go even further. The university I work in is now actually "importing" its faculty on a mass scale from Europe. When these individuals, for whatever reason, don't get on tenure track, they are then brought in through visiting professorships etc and some of them actually stay in the university for years like this.

Some of my students have privately complained that they cannot even understand half of what some of their professors are saying because the communication issues are so egregious.

So we're importing our professors as much as our reality television hosts --think Simon Cowell, Cat Deely, Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne et al

What is behind the reliance on European academics? Are their not enough liberal academics in the USA to fill these positions.

[Suzan]

I loved the entire UC system and still love anything resembling a college!

It's all relative, of course, but my family was fundamentalist and extremely suspicious of higher education. To say I was sheltered was an understatement. I didn't go to college until after I was briefly--and disasterously--married, divorced and had a baby to raise on my own. I moved to socal, where the access to college allowed me to work and go part time. I was in heaven as an under grad and grad school was even better.

I have never been happier than when I was in school. I felt as if I was breathing real air for the first time. I got another masters in 2005 and am now thinking about finishing the doctorate that got interrupted by a car accident back in the eighties.

I had one very very conservative professor as an undergrad, who was brilliant and quite wonderfully irrascible. I'm not sure I realized he was conservative at the time, but I chose him as my thesis advisor without fully understanding his views. Big mistake! HUGE! OMG, I'll never forget his reaction to my first draft. He had quite a reputation on campus and he couldn't imagine that I didn't know all about him, so he assumed someone had put me up to it. As if a struggling single mom would risk her GPA and future career on a dare!

Anyway, back to the point. Other than the one conservative, I'm certain I was exposed almost entirely to very liberal POVs, verging on socialist and communist, as Laura mentioned. However, I loved getting that angle on the world after having spent most of my formative years with little beyond the Bible and Nancy Drew as approved reading in the home.

I can get high thinking about college, lol. Maybe that's part of the lasting damage done to me by the liberal profs, but I think of it as a blessing.

[LadyLazarus]

What is behind the reliance on European academics? Are their not enough liberal academics in the USA to fill these positions.

Good question. Not sure I know the answer to this. I can only speak for my field, but there is a general sense, ironically, that our education standards are way behind the rest of the Western world when it comes to education and, quite frankly, that we are not leading, but rather lagging, in research, theory, and other areas.

[CGP]

there is a general sense, ironically, that our education standards are way behind the rest of the Western world when it comes to education and, quite frankly, that we are not leading, but rather lagging, in research, theory, and other areas.

I have often wondered if the dominance of private universities in the USA has impacted on the level of performance they require of students. In other countries where there is greater public funding of university education, there is less pressure on university administrations to pass students just for the sake of it. But when huge sums of money are involved in private university education, there must be some pressure on these private institutions to lower their standards to ensure all of those cash-paying students get a degree. In a sense, I think in some places in the USA you can almost "buy" a degree through paying huge fees, rather than earn it through hard work.

[LadyLazarus]

I have often wondered if the dominance of private universities in the USA has impacted on the level of performance they require of students. In other countries where there is greater public funding of university education, there is less pressure on university administrations to pass students just for the sake of it. But when huge sums of money are involved in private university education, there must be some pressure on these private universities to lower their standards to ensure all of those cash-paying students get a degree. In a sense, I think in some places in the USA you can almost "buy" a degree through paying huge fees, rather than earn it through hard work.

Strictly speaking, I know that higher education in this country is a joke, compared to say what those in France undergo or even those in England. Why would you hire someone from this country in my field, let's say, when you know that even our top scholars just have no where near the education that those in other countries do???? Seriously.

And in terms of conservativism, I only know that after I got out of college whenever I would speak to my republican mother, I would talk to her as if she were a poor, dim-witted soul who hadn't been "enlightened" by the university. But the reality was that my mother was whip smart, even if she was basically a fascist. I really regret that now and see that she really got a lot of sh*t that I didn't see back then when I was suffering from the religion of liberalism.

[CGP]

Strictly speaking, I know that higher education in this country is a joke, compared to say what those in France undergo or even those in England. Why would you hire someone from this country in my field, let's say, when you know that even our top scholars just have no where near the education that those in other countries do???? Seriously.

As someone who has studied both in the USA and overseas, I must say that the education I received here was of a lower standard, or certainly less academically rigorous, than what I received overseas. I think that has less to do with liberalism, however, and more to do with the commercialization of university "education" in the USA. And, ironically, it seems that many employers snub their noses at degrees earned overseas when it's often the case that degrees earned overseas result in a more significant gain of knowledge/skill than those acquired in the USA. But I have no evidence to support my claim!

[Alces95]

Strictly speaking, I know that higher education in this country is a joke, compared to say what those in France undergo or even those in England. Why would you hire someone from this country in my field, let's say, when you know that even our top scholars just have no where near the education that those in other countries do???? Seriously.

And in terms of conservativism, I only know that after I got out of college whenever I would speak to my republican mother, I would talk to her as if she were a poor, dim-witted soul who hadn't been "enlightened" by the university. But the reality was that my mother was whip smart, even if she was basically a fascist. I really regret that now and see that she really got a lot of sh*t that I didn't see back then when I was suffering from the religion of liberalism.

Thanks for posting this article. As an independant who works at a University, I keep my mouth shut more often than not. I do know a few religious or conservative folks on campus but its very few.

I have actually (am still am) a bit nervous posting information here because I wouldn't want to cause any trouble at work.

Thanks again for posting this. I will say that students are demanding a bit more equality of thought - this could be a great sign for our future.

[CGP]

I have actually (am still am) a bit nervous posting information here because I wouldn't want to cause any trouble at work.


You are completely unidentifiable so I wouldn't worry about it. Give yourself a dud "home state" if you haven't already done so! ;)

Keep posting!

[LadyLazarus]

Thanks for posting this article. As an independant who works at a University, I keep my mouth shut more often than not. I do know a few religious or conservative folks on campus but its very few.

You're welcome. And I know the feeling you're talking about. You spend most of your time just smiling and nodding.

There are two individuals who I'm tight with in the department who are very religious but keep it on the down low for fear it will reduce their status in the workplace. It sucks that a place that is supposed to be so open to the free competition of ideas makes people who think differently feel like they have to shut up or hide. Nonsense.

[Meg]

I'm intrested to see how my professors are going to be. Because I'll be attending a private Catholic school. From the outline we were given during orientation, it seems as though the school wants to engage both sides. Because as a student you're required to take a "Human Journey" course, and a type of religious course. I can't remember exactly how to explain what they are in detail, but it does go heavily into all forms of religion and things.

[VotingHillary]

What I found interesting when I went back to school about 6 years ago at the tender age of 44 was not just how liberal the professors were, but how shocked they were when those my age didn't just nod in agreement like a bunch of bobbleheads.

It was funny when after class, the younger students would come up to me or one of the other older students and say, "Wow, you really gave it to him/her." What was sad was many of the younger ones said they were afraid to speak up for fear of their grade getting lowered.

[Suzan]

There are two individuals who I'm tight with in the department who are very religious but keep it on the down low for fear it will reduce their status in the workplace. It sucks that a place that is supposed to be so open to the free competition of ideas makes people who think differently feel like they have to shut up or hide. Nonsense.

Well, I was looking to escape the oppressive religious influences I grew up with so my experience was completely different, but I don't disagree with you at all about the free competition of ideas. It's hypocritical not to keep things open to all POVs.

Doesn't this vary from discipline to discipline? If you're in the sciences or the liberal arts, I could see the suspicion of religious and/or conservatives views. But what about business school, computer sciences and the like? And aren't there conservative groups on most campuses?

[LadyLazarus]

the younger ones said they were afraid to speak up for fear of their grade getting lowered.
__________________

Hm. . . yes there are times when I'm teaching that I literally have to watch myself to make sure I'm not just giving a biased view of some issue. It's hard and you never quite get the balance right.

For example, I once had a male student who, in the middle of class discussion, said that he believed that most women deserved to be raped. I had told the whole class they were free to say whatever they wanted and wouldn't be censored for it. So, I let that one go. Then in the next discussion the guy actually started mouthing off about how all women were "whores."

The whole class started looking at the dude as if he was like some serial rapist, but we all just sat there. The students started looking at me to correct him or to maybe take him outside of class to talk to him or call the authorities. Something. Anything. But I was like, well, I don't agree with his opinion but shouldn't he be allowed to say this if this environment is truly free of censorship? Later on, I called psychological services to have them check in on him. But ultimately I had to give this nut job a "B" in the class even though I thought everything about him and his ideas were abhorrent and even dangerous. (He was actually rather intelligent, but was seriously mentally ill). Crazy.

[Ikasu]

Nearly all my professors are Democrats. Isn't that a problem?

Even if they are, does that mean you will receive a liberal education? Can a professor be... professional?

[TheTaoOfBill]

Even if they are, does that mean you will receive a liberal education? Can a professor be... professional?

Some do in fact wear their politics on their sleeves. And when that happens they are liberal more often than not.

Not that it's really that big of a deal. You would think that by college most people would have an independent mind by then. God forbid a liberal teaches you something.

It makes me so angry when parents refuse to allow their kids a higher education because of the fear that their teachers will be liberal. It should be a form of child abuse if you ask me...

[Ikasu]

Some do in fact wear their politics on their sleeves. And when that happens they are liberal more often than not.

Not that it's really that big of a deal. You would think that by college most people would have an independent mind by then. God forbid a liberal teaches you something.

I know. But I think people underestimate conservative thinking in higher education. Just look at the influence of the Chicago School of Economics, which is conservative/libertarian. They have produced more winners of the Nobel Prize and the John Bates Clark Medal than any other economics department.

[LadyLazarus]

Even if they are, does that mean you will receive a liberal education? Can a professor be... professional?

You'd think, except when you're enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts you kinda have to assume that you'll be receiving a liberal education.

[TheTaoOfBill]

You'd think, except when you're enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts you kinda have to assume that you'll be receiving a liberal education.

Well it is implied in the title ;)

[Laura Cereta]

That might explain why I thoroughly enjoyed my years at university. I was in the right place.

I loved my education, too! I also started to feel manipulated by it, especially last year. As the 2008 election played out I started seeing things in a whole different light. I probably had more debates with students and professors in the last year then in all the other years combined.

I always questioned certain aspects of what I was being taught. That's why I enjoyed the social sciences so much-- one can always expound and further analysis and deconstruct the information received. The law is very black and white, though, but even that was taught within a subtle political framework.

Much was said last year about the "educated elite" voting block. I started to really wonder (and still do) how many well-educated people never took the time to truly question their education.

[Alces95]

I know. But I think people underestimate conservative thinking in higher education. Just look at the influence of the Chicago School of Economics, which is conservative/libertarian. They have produced more winners of the Nobel Prize and the John Bates Clark Medal than any other economics department.

I think you (and lots of people) would be shocked at the conversations not just had at informal lunches but that are included in minutes of meetings.

And Tao - different definition of liberal for liberal arts but I will say that the most radical left departments on campus tend to be the traditional liberal arts/humanities (English, Soc. etc...)

I love the subject but this arguemnt has been playing out for a long time. In one of my classes, we discuss the histroy of higher education and this argument, what should be taught, started as soon as Europeans got here. I know know for sure but I know some on this board could probably tell us if the native tribes had similar aruguements as well.

I think we are in for a MAJOR change in higher ed in the next ten years. The last big change in campus culture was the 60's student movement but I think we are about to see a change more like the influence of the first GI bill. Less emphasis on Liberal Arts education and more attention paid to vocation. Students are looking for a tangible ROI.

I could talk about this all day - I'll stop. :laughing:

[Laura Cereta]

I think we are in for a MAJOR change in higher ed in the next ten years. The last big change in campus culture was the 60's student movement but I think we are about to see a change more like the influence of the first GI bill. Less emphasis on Liberal Arts education and more attention paid to vocation. Students are looking for a tangible ROI.


I *stamp* this; I believe education is going to go through some big changes, as well.

[CGP]

I think we are in for a MAJOR change in higher ed in the next ten years. The last big change in campus culture was the 60's student movement but I think we are about to see a change more like the influence of the first GI bill. Less emphasis on Liberal Arts education and more attention paid to vocation. Students are looking for a tangible ROI.


On my first reading of your post, I misread "vocation" for "vacation" and was a little perplexed, until I worked out my error! ;)

[Alces95]

On my first reading of your post, I misread "vocation" for "vacation" and was a little perplexed, until I worked out my error! ;)

As someone who is in need of one and working in higher ed...I like your take better!

[CGP]

As someone who is in need of one and working in higher ed...I like your take better!

I am sure very few people would complain about an increased emphasis on VACATIONS!