College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds - Washington Post

[Hangar18]

This should surprise exactly no one. My political science department at Montana State was 100% liberal while students fell at about 50-50. Made for some great classroom discussions.

I wonder if CuervGunBanBeeHigh has a conspiracy theory for the Washington Post?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8427-2005Mar28?language=printer

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."



© 2005 The Washington Post Company

 

[Ten Bears]

I'm not suprised.

 

[cjcj]

Ward Churchill... is the liberal leader... the libs no doubt dominate our colleges.

 

[The Hedgehog]

tenbears and cjcj, either of you obtain a college degree?

 

[Ten Bears]

GH, would it really matter here if I did or didn't?

 

[cjcj]

Yea i have one , you want to buy it?

 

[The Hedgehog]

Tenbeers, no.
cjcj, A forged GED isn't worth much.

 

[Ten Bears]

CJCJ, guess he doesn't know who signed that thing, does he.

GH, I have completed a high school level edjumacation.

 

[MattK]

It really is not a suprise as most colleges teach LIBERAL ARTS. If you want to get conservative schooling just listen to the am radio...

I wonder where all the Republicans in office had their schooling? Could they have been taught at a liberal arts college where the professors are primarily liberal?

 

[cjcj]

True Matt ..but the difference is we could see thru all the liberal bullshit....then when we grew balls and got into the "real" world... We saw how phony the liberal philosophy was.

 

[The Hedgehog]

cjcj, explain what "growing balls and the real world" mean for you. Just curious.

 

[Ten Bears]

GH is starting to sound a lot like EG/BBB4/YRH/JCUEERVO.

 

[BuzzH]

cjcj,

I dont think your republican hero's think liberalism is bullshit, they milk that cash cow for all its worth.

Tell me again about the rags to riches struggles of GW, Ronald Reagan, etc. or pick your favorite republican in congress....

Not one of those guys would have had a prayer without the liberal government funding them. About like the marlboro man rancher making it on their own without a government handout, or farmers, or....take your pick. How well would trucking companies do without government subsidized freeways and highways? For christ sake cj, thank a liberal that you're even able to live in Arizona...without the "liberal" government subsidizing your drinking water you wouldnt even have a place to live in Phoenix.

Come on, if you're going to call BS, at least make it somewhat believable. Every Republican on the planet is a recipient of some liberal program.

 

[Ten Bears]

If liberal are teaching the colleges and conservatives are running the country, does that make the ATVophobics that want to ban all ATV's on this site PRESERVATIVES?

 

[MattK]

TB- I think it would make the posters on this sight who want to put further limitations on atv use...Intelligent!

 

[BuzzH]

Ten beers,

Conservatives are not running the country...

Republicrats are...

You think GW is a even close to a conservative Republican...????

Maybe you need to go check out a political science course at one of those liberal colleges....

Then maybe you'd have a remote clue on what you're talking about.

 

[noharleyyet]

"Republicrats"...right on the money...and I do mean money!

 

[Ten Bears]

If liberal are teaching the colleges and conservatives are running the country, does that make the ATVophobics that want to ban all ATV's on this site PRESERVATIVES?

Here's a clue MATTy & BUZZ, it was a joke, you know HA HA HA. Don't take everything so seriously.

 

[BuzzH]

Ten beers,

I know you're a joke...

 

[cjcj]

Buzz i am once again "forced" by the truth to agree.. i see Bush as way to liberal and yes Republicrats run the country....we need balance from both the right and the left. there are issues where i would be called a liberal myself, but on most i would say i`m conservative. As far as public programs go [welfare,college assistance, roads etc.] most are fine. But many are not [tax breaks for rich etc.]



Greenhorn... growing balls means having the ability and guts to tastefully disagree with your boss, professors etc., at the expense of being labeled a misfit or non-conformist. If you know your right on something you have the balls to prove it out and stick to it. [Tom Cruise, a few good men ] is a great example.....The real world means not what you face in a textbook or on paper... but real life consequences such as a soldier when his life is on the line,[can`t go by the book] or hey it worked in the lab?[controlled conditions] but might not in the "REAL" world. Hope this is good enough for you GH. or else i had better shut my yapper as this is way to much ..splaning to do.