I'll refrain from making comments, simply to say that for my experience, its most certainly true here in California. (And especially, the Bay Area)College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 29, 2005; Page C01
College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says.
By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms, with 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identifying themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans.
The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.
"What's most striking is how few conservatives there are in any field," said Robert Lichter, a professor at George Mason University and a co-author of the study. "There was no field we studied in which there were more conservatives than liberals or more Republicans than Democrats. It's a very homogenous environment, not just in the places you'd expect to be dominated by liberals."
Religious services take a back seat for many faculty members, with 51 percent saying they rarely or never attend church or synagogue and 31 percent calling themselves regular churchgoers. On the gender front, 72 percent of the full-time faculty are male and 28 percent female.
The findings, by Lichter and fellow political science professors Stanley Rothman of Smith College and Neil Nevitte of the University of Toronto, are based on a survey of 1,643 full-time faculty at 183 four-year schools. The researchers relied on 1999 data from the North American Academic Study Survey, the most recent comprehensive data available.
The study appears in the March issue of the Forum, an online political science journal. It was funded by the Randolph Foundation, a right-leaning group that has given grants to such conservative organizations as the Independent Women's Forum and Americans for Tax Reform.
Rothman sees the findings as evidence of "possible discrimination" against conservatives in hiring and promotion. Even after factoring in levels of achievement, as measured by published work and organization memberships, "the most likely conclusion" is that "being conservative counts against you," he said. "It doesn't surprise me, because I've observed it happening." The study, however, describes this finding as "preliminary."
When asked about the findings, Jonathan Knight, director of academic freedom and tenure for the American Association of University Professors, said, "The question is how this translates into what happens within the academic community on such issues as curriculum, admission of students, evaluation of students, evaluation of faculty for salary and promotion." Knight said he isn't aware of "any good evidence" that personal views are having an impact on campus policies.
"It's hard to see that these liberal views cut very deeply into the education of students. In fact, a number of studies show the core values that students bring into the university are not very much altered by being in college."
Rothman, Lichter and Nevitte find a leftward shift on campus over the past two decades. In the last major survey of college faculty, by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 1984, 39 percent identified themselves as liberal.
In contrast with the finding that nearly three-quarters of college faculty are liberal, a Harris Poll of the general public last year found that 33 percent describe themselves as conservative and 18 percent as liberal.
The liberal label that a majority of the faculty members attached to themselves is reflected on a variety of issues. The professors and instructors surveyed are, strongly or somewhat, in favor of abortion rights (84 percent); believe homosexuality is acceptable (67 percent); and want more environmental protection "even if it raises prices or costs jobs" (88 percent). What's more, the study found, 65 percent want the government to ensure full employment, a stance to the left of the Democratic Party.
Recent campus controversies have reinforced the left-wing faculty image. The University of Colorado is reviewing its tenure system after one professor, Ward Churchill, created an uproar by likening World Trade Center victims to Nazis. Harvard's faculty of arts and sciences voted no confidence in the university's president, Lawrence Summers, after he privately wondered whether women had the same natural ability as men in science and math.
The study did not attempt to examine whether the political views of faculty members affect the content of their courses.
The researchers say that liberals, men and non-regular churchgoers are more likely to be teaching at top schools, while conservatives, women and more religious faculty are more likely to be relegated to lower-tier colleges and universities.
Top-tier schools, roughly a third of the total, are defined as highly ranked liberal arts colleges and research universities that grant PhDs.
The most liberal faculties are those devoted to the humanities (81 percent) and social sciences (75 percent), according to the study. But liberals outnumbered conservatives even among engineering faculty (51 percent to 19 percent) and business faculty (49 percent to 39 percent).
The most left-leaning departments are English literature, philosophy, political science and religious studies, where at least 80 percent of the faculty say they are liberal and no more than 5 percent call themselves conservative, the study says.
"In general," says Lichter, who also heads the nonprofit Center for Media and Public Affairs, "even broad-minded people gravitate toward other people like themselves. That's why you need diversity, not just of race and gender but also, maybe especially, of ideas and perspective."
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College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot - Washington Post
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McLesterolBeast
Member
I never quite understood why a conservative (republican?) would bring attention to this supposed bias. Is it really helping the cause to remind people that the vast majority of academics and intellectuals are left leaning?
Drinky Crow
Banned
Hahahaha, HOWIE KURTZ.
Oh sweet JESUS you conservatives make me laugh.
Oh sweet JESUS you conservatives make me laugh.
Sounds like some horrible people.
Bottom line, so called conservatives a don't like helping people, they'd rather be taking in money than teaching. The kind of conservatives that exist today are hostile to learning, science and education in general, is it any wonder they don't teach?
At the college I went to, and with the major I was, I was lucky if the professor even spoke English, never mind if they were liberal or conservative...
I also don't see how the party affiliation of a college professor would affect your learning, except maybe if you were in a political science curriculum.
I also don't see how the party affiliation of a college professor would affect your learning, except maybe if you were in a political science curriculum.
I don't think it's just the teaching .. its also the fact that these people write the text books that the classes are based on. So, in a way, they are shaping the perceptions of history and how it is taught. That is what angers conservatives.
I think it also angers them that the majority of vocal college kids are liberal or democrat. Unreachable to Republicans. So, they look for someone/something to blame for thier lack of reaching the youth vote.
It was frustrating for me in college to have to sit through some of these classes and listen to the professors rail on about the issues of the day. Some of the dumber kids would challenge them, but the teachers are too smart to lose a debate to a college kid. I just kept my mouth shut, and tried to filter out all of thier propaganda.
It's just the way things are.
I think it also angers them that the majority of vocal college kids are liberal or democrat. Unreachable to Republicans. So, they look for someone/something to blame for thier lack of reaching the youth vote.
It was frustrating for me in college to have to sit through some of these classes and listen to the professors rail on about the issues of the day. Some of the dumber kids would challenge them, but the teachers are too smart to lose a debate to a college kid. I just kept my mouth shut, and tried to filter out all of thier propaganda.
It's just the way things are.
Yes, there is a great left-wing bias in higher education.
But who cares? As long as it doesn't go too far into nonsense like "speech codes" and inserting personal views into one's teaching, there are worse things than a little bias. Besides, I kind of like the idea of having little colonies, or nature preserves for, say, neo-Marxists. They're certainly not going to run corporations, or want to.
oh, editing to condemn people like Kurtz and Horowitz as being ridiculous whiners 95% of the time - they and the frothing Chomskyites DESERVE each other
But who cares? As long as it doesn't go too far into nonsense like "speech codes" and inserting personal views into one's teaching, there are worse things than a little bias. Besides, I kind of like the idea of having little colonies, or nature preserves for, say, neo-Marxists. They're certainly not going to run corporations, or want to.
oh, editing to condemn people like Kurtz and Horowitz as being ridiculous whiners 95% of the time - they and the frothing Chomskyites DESERVE each other
Fragamemnon
Member
Howie's extra craptacular today.
I'm not going to sit here and drag on about this-I'm too busy today to be able to afford that luxury-but I will say this. Professors, who work with things like the scientific method and peer review, have to deal with facts quite a lot. Even in the much-demonized humanities, there are rules and nonflexible laws that govern things.
My point is that those daily realities are very real, and are well-defined and bounded. They are based in reason and the theories and knowledge shared by the professors will be first judged by those boundaries and laws. They simply can't create a reality which suits their theories and ideals where the facts match the theories (instead of the other way around), because they wouldn't last long in a higher institution where peer review and the scientific method are two of the driving principles in their profession.
That's why a lot of professors are liberal, and why few of them are Republicans. Republicans in this country have ruled for years by bending and twisting reality and public perception to create artificial demand for their theories and goals. Modern American conservatism-and it's important to make that distinction here, given the narrow time sampling of these findings-simply isn't hinged in reality. It's an artifiical construct built on a foundation of straw men, concerted and relentless agitprop, raging nationalism, religious fundamentalism, and the power of the squirearchy.
The real travesty here is two things-one, the lack of women in high positions, which is something that is tightly tied to the low numbers of tenured positions as a ratio to PhD grads and the historical lack of female PhD candidates until much more recently, and the other thing-the tarring of the term "conservative". I was suprised at that, as there is zero shame to claiming the tenets of conservatism when approached in an honest manner. I believe that those tenets have been perverted so much by the modern GOP that even real conservatives either don't call themselves conservatives, or, hell, call themselves liberals instead.
I'm not going to sit here and drag on about this-I'm too busy today to be able to afford that luxury-but I will say this. Professors, who work with things like the scientific method and peer review, have to deal with facts quite a lot. Even in the much-demonized humanities, there are rules and nonflexible laws that govern things.
My point is that those daily realities are very real, and are well-defined and bounded. They are based in reason and the theories and knowledge shared by the professors will be first judged by those boundaries and laws. They simply can't create a reality which suits their theories and ideals where the facts match the theories (instead of the other way around), because they wouldn't last long in a higher institution where peer review and the scientific method are two of the driving principles in their profession.
That's why a lot of professors are liberal, and why few of them are Republicans. Republicans in this country have ruled for years by bending and twisting reality and public perception to create artificial demand for their theories and goals. Modern American conservatism-and it's important to make that distinction here, given the narrow time sampling of these findings-simply isn't hinged in reality. It's an artifiical construct built on a foundation of straw men, concerted and relentless agitprop, raging nationalism, religious fundamentalism, and the power of the squirearchy.
The real travesty here is two things-one, the lack of women in high positions, which is something that is tightly tied to the low numbers of tenured positions as a ratio to PhD grads and the historical lack of female PhD candidates until much more recently, and the other thing-the tarring of the term "conservative". I was suprised at that, as there is zero shame to claiming the tenets of conservatism when approached in an honest manner. I believe that those tenets have been perverted so much by the modern GOP that even real conservatives either don't call themselves conservatives, or, hell, call themselves liberals instead.
Tommie Hu$tle
Member
Eric-GCA said:
Yet we have a Conservative leaning house, Senate, Judicary, White house, and a Media that thows softballs at those instutions. It seems that the college faculites have done a horrid job passing their values down to their students.
MISSION FAILED
I'm getting a little tired of the very loose definition of "propaganda" being thrown around whenever this topic comes up.
The word refers to a forced propagation of doctrines and causes, usually both political and religious. A college classroom simply isn't an avenue for such things unless you happen to be taking, well, a political or religious course. There are liberal *ideas* that may or may not be popular among academics, but the fact that they're at the head of the classroom doesn't make them immune from being questioned. Feelings of intimidation on your end are issues you have to resolve, and are not the responsibility of the school unless an actual threat is made.
I think reports of actual, overt liberal "propaganda" are being exaggerated. Any professor who dictates, "Think like me, or you'll fail" is a poor teacher period, regardless of his/her political affiliation.
Adam, instead of sitting quietly and "filtering out" the propaganda, you should've actually said something and, you know, started a discussion.
The word refers to a forced propagation of doctrines and causes, usually both political and religious. A college classroom simply isn't an avenue for such things unless you happen to be taking, well, a political or religious course. There are liberal *ideas* that may or may not be popular among academics, but the fact that they're at the head of the classroom doesn't make them immune from being questioned. Feelings of intimidation on your end are issues you have to resolve, and are not the responsibility of the school unless an actual threat is made.
I think reports of actual, overt liberal "propaganda" are being exaggerated. Any professor who dictates, "Think like me, or you'll fail" is a poor teacher period, regardless of his/her political affiliation.
Adam, instead of sitting quietly and "filtering out" the propaganda, you should've actually said something and, you know, started a discussion.
Yeah and if you *lost* the discussion then think about why. It just might be a case of flawed logic or poor use of wording on your part as much as it could be just a case of superior debate skills on the part of the prof. By not doing so you're missing the whole point of post secondary education.
Also I really agree with Frag's point. To call yourself either conservative should require a fair bit of analysis on what the term actually means from a semantic and historical point of view. It seems that currently the word is just a label signifying nothing more than "What the talk radio guy says makes sense to me!"
Also I really agree with Frag's point. To call yourself either conservative should require a fair bit of analysis on what the term actually means from a semantic and historical point of view. It seems that currently the word is just a label signifying nothing more than "What the talk radio guy says makes sense to me!"
xsarien said:
If you have ever sat in a history or political science class ... "topics of the day" will definitely come up. The teacher fields the topic then lets students blurt out opinions. In my experiences, the teacher will counter all conservative viewpoints, and then prop up any weak liberal students ideas with a better versed version.
So, I never said "Think like me, or you fail". But, there is a definite climate that they create in casual conversations about the topics of the day. Then even during the lessons, there are casual hints or correlations to past history that is tinged with thier current political ideals (allegories or for instances).
But, that is the idea of being a teacher. Taking bland text and making it come alive to the students minds through oral communication. So, of course it will have thier political leanings embossed all over them. Teachers are not AP news reporters.
The ones that are tenured are the worst. They have no one to answer to, and can be as "out there" as they want.
This is just my experiences, nothing is set in stone.
It's hard for me to relate to you how it feels. The only allegory I can give you, is to imagine watching Fox News in a room full of conservatives or apathetic viewers. Then you will have a 'discussion' about each story with (insert Neo-con here) as the moderator. That is how alot of my college experiences has felt like ... but reversed.
Drinky Crow
Banned
Why should equal time be given to WRONG viewpoints that deny reality? More often than not, the conservative arguments -- especially when coughed up by naive and surly freshman -- are uninformed and largely emotional.
The reason for this seems pretty obvious, would you rather have a progressive professor who is going to go out and explore new theories and consider new beliefs or do you want a conservative professor that dismises new theories and beliefs? I choose the former and I'm sure most other people would as well.
Drinky Crow said:
Besides your rediculous flamebaiting first sentence .. I agree with you. That is why I sat there with my mouth closed.
Anyone that argues/debates a professor is a fool, and if he doesn't realize that, will be made to be one in short time. I had seen it happen too many times.
ToxicAdam, it's "ridiculous". *cough*
Text books are really very straightforward and impartial. The views, whether liberal or conservative, are hardly influential since the authors are just concerned with being scrupulous. It's when you get to 'books' and journals that writers can afford to let their opinions dictate the material.
Really now? Then why is that point not raised? Or ever raised in the several articles of this type that I've seen?ToxicAdam said:
Text books are really very straightforward and impartial. The views, whether liberal or conservative, are hardly influential since the authors are just concerned with being scrupulous. It's when you get to 'books' and journals that writers can afford to let their opinions dictate the material.
ToxicAdam said:
Oh? I had one in my junior year of college. It actually was at points legitimate propaganda. The kind where you kind of wonder if the guy was spending his free time firebombing anything owned by "The Establishment." He was too liberal for me, and I think that speaks volumes.
Not only did I openly question him in class, I also went to his office, admitted I wasn't reading the obviously one-sided book assigned for the course, and when he said I had an incredible amount of hubris, I stood there and took it.
I wasn't failed. (All kidding aside, I don't remember what grade I got in that course.)
I wasn't a fool. I was honest. And, if nothing else, the guy at least made me think.
Drinky Crow said:
Hahahaha. The archetypal appeal to logic? Or, wait, no. Rather, perhaps this is the fallacy of existential assumption. In fact, there's no logic here at all. Shame, shame, Drinky. You can do better than that. Even if meant in jest, you'd surely upbraid a conservative for submitting the contrary parallel. No need to give conservatives free ammunition, and remember, we're discussing academics here. Shouldn't we attempt (or at least pretend to attempt) honest discussion in pursuit of "Truth"?
Fragamemnon
Member
You're making the assumption that both answers have equal merit. This is rarely the case except for the most subjective of "topics of the day", of which few would merit worthwhile disucssion in the classrooms because everything is almost completely unsubstantiated by fact, i.e., totally hypothetical.
The grand travesty of it all this bullshit Horowitz insanity is the implicit assumption that conservative views and liberal views *deserve* equal merit on an academic basis, and, furthermore, the insistance that said conservative views can such gain instant academic equality outside of any scientific process or institutional peer review.
MUST...NOT...LET...GET...FACTS...THROUGH...THICK...CANDY....SHELL. MUST RESIST DARK SIDE OR IT WILL TURN ME GAY.
Edit: Removed cheap shot.
Property of Jumpship
Banned
xsarien said:
Post of the Year.
Dear Liberals,
Learn to lose gracefully. You're going to have to get used to it.
Signed,
Your betters.
P.S. Stop trying to teach/reprogram our children.
"The grand travesty of it all this bullshit Horowitz insanity is the implicit assumption that conservative views and liberal views *deserve* equal merit on an academic basis, and, furthermore, the insistance that said conservative views can such gain instant academic equality outside of any scientific process or institutional peer review."
This is funny. Further evidence of the elitism that plagues liberalism. And not just that, it's pretty sad that the only reason universities are such a bastion to your views is that they can only apply in theory and are not meant for the practical world -- they require funding through non-merit based means in order to survive. It's actually for the better that we keep these humanist, nihilistic, social experimenters cooped up in such "institutions". Let's give them nice, comfy pajamas with slender tags on them labelling them approriately and let them be content. Then tenure them to kingdom come I say.
Ooh, I felt very much like Rush Limbaugh there... (sans the medication.. )
Learn to lose gracefully. You're going to have to get used to it.
Signed,
Your betters.
P.S. Stop trying to teach/reprogram our children.
"The grand travesty of it all this bullshit Horowitz insanity is the implicit assumption that conservative views and liberal views *deserve* equal merit on an academic basis, and, furthermore, the insistance that said conservative views can such gain instant academic equality outside of any scientific process or institutional peer review."
This is funny. Further evidence of the elitism that plagues liberalism. And not just that, it's pretty sad that the only reason universities are such a bastion to your views is that they can only apply in theory and are not meant for the practical world -- they require funding through non-merit based means in order to survive. It's actually for the better that we keep these humanist, nihilistic, social experimenters cooped up in such "institutions". Let's give them nice, comfy pajamas with slender tags on them labelling them approriately and let them be content. Then tenure them to kingdom come I say.
Ooh, I felt very much like Rush Limbaugh there... (sans the medication.. )
bob_arctor
Tough_Smooth
Iceman said:
Meh. Kinda corny.
Property of Jumpship
Banned
Iceman said:
Its extremely funny to me that whenever a conservative decides to argue, they always insult without backing it up. So, why are you our betters?
brooklyngooner
Member
Iceman said:
:lol
You are a simple, simple man.
McLesterolBeast
Member
Affirmative action for opinions is definitely on it's way in.
Simpsons joke reference.
Anyway. Simple man. I like that. That's actually one of my goals. But this huge ego of mine buoyed by my bachelor's from Berkeley and my impending PhD from The University of Wisconsin Madison is quite the hindrance.
Insecure? Not so much. But I've been noticing unfettered liberal view points spewing all over this forum and I wanted to make sure some of that was challenged. It seemed as if people just assumed that everyone here with any intelligence was a liberal. I'd like people to actually consider others for a second before posting something that could be seen as personally offensive to people like us. There was a time when political threads weren't even allowed on this forum. Now they are rampant.. and they are most decidedly skewed if you know what I mean.
Anyway. Simple man. I like that. That's actually one of my goals. But this huge ego of mine buoyed by my bachelor's from Berkeley and my impending PhD from The University of Wisconsin Madison is quite the hindrance.
Insecure? Not so much. But I've been noticing unfettered liberal view points spewing all over this forum and I wanted to make sure some of that was challenged. It seemed as if people just assumed that everyone here with any intelligence was a liberal. I'd like people to actually consider others for a second before posting something that could be seen as personally offensive to people like us. There was a time when political threads weren't even allowed on this forum. Now they are rampant.. and they are most decidedly skewed if you know what I mean.
enjoy bell woods
Banned
This hasn't been a very good week for you. I'd quite while I was ahead.Iceman said:
Outdoor Miner
Member
Iceman said:
What exactly have you challenged? You've thrown down the Liberal=Elitist card, and you've insulted 60+% of professors around the country, but not much else.
But you're not really 'challenging' people. You've just been whining.Iceman said:
I suppose that the conservative minority is overwhelmed by contrary opinions, perspectives, facts, etc. While I do think that the conservatives here at GAF are particularly stupid and incompetent, this is probably inflated some since they become more emotional and are not confident enough to try and respond reasonably. And they're inclined by pride to respond to instances that really can't be defended (instances unsually common, I suspect, because of the Bush administration).
Fragamemnon
Member
Others realize that, even while making 80k+ a year, conservative policies hurt them more than they benefit them in the long run. I would benefit, and other liberals I know would benefit (some quite greatly) if we moved to a taxation system based on consumption instead of taxing income and capital gains. That doesn't mean it's not a completely unfair and incredibly shitty idea as a whole, so we oppose that because we choose to think of more than just our own gain.
Truth and fact aren't elitist or biased. You want to supplant fact and reason in the classroom with ideology that YOU feel worth just because its your pet idea. Who's elitist now-the humble professor who stands by the best working and tested theory, or the bloviating student that insists his idea get equal time, despite not having proven merit?
Most of the policies of the modern conservative movement aren't meant for the practical democracy, either, yet they have been implemented because you can do that when you pull all of the levers.
"lib·er·al
adj.
1.
1. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
2. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded."
Sounds like a good idea for most teachers and professors to be "liberal" to me. In fact, it sounds like part of the job description of an educator. Expanding people's minds, broadening their understanding of the world, making people literate in numerous fields of knowledge and points of view.
So keep up the good work, liberal educators!
adj.
1.
1. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
2. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded."
Sounds like a good idea for most teachers and professors to be "liberal" to me. In fact, it sounds like part of the job description of an educator. Expanding people's minds, broadening their understanding of the world, making people literate in numerous fields of knowledge and points of view.
So keep up the good work, liberal educators!
brooklyngooner
Member
Iceman said:
That's real nice. It was in reference to this gem:
Iceman said:
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