Quote: the G-man said: Among full professors at Berkeley and Stanford, the ratio of Democrats to Republicans is 7:1. But among younger untenured assistant and associate profes-sors it's a ridiculous 31:1. Among the rising generation of professors, in other words, Republicans are almost extinct.
Well, firstly, this is taken from Berkeley and Stanford.
Secondly, while I don't have any numbers to back this theory up, I think that's probably pretty typical of those universities, going back decades. The reason I think they lessen among full professors is that, generally, younger people are more liberal, but as they get older, their opinions are no longer considered liberal. A lot of the conservative ideas now wouldn't have been nearly as conservative in years past.
Thirdly, the fact that those numbers are referred to as a "problem" is unfair, I think. As Jim said, it should only be a "problem" if it was more common for liberal professors to be against opposing viewpoints than conservative ones. It shouldn't matter what political party they support. Just as it shouldn't matter what race, gender, creed or sexual orientation they are.
I agree that those who commonly exhibit a high level of favoritism should be disciplined, and in some cases, fired.
Quote: The dominant orthodoxy "amounts to a one-party system. That is no longer a matter of conjecture. It is established fact.
