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."
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.
Quote: Jim Jackson said: Show me that *anybody's* discriminating against anybody else. I still don't see it.
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."
Quote: Jim Jackson said: Colleges and univserities have historically been Liberal institutions.
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.
Quote: Jim Jackson said: My friend, a Ph. D. molecular geneticist, was pursued by Miami of Ohio, my alma mater, for well over a year. My friend is a Conservative Catholic in the classic tradition of Indiana Republicans. EVERY OTHER PROFESSOR in the Zoology faculty at Miami is Liberal Democrat. Yet they wanted my friend, politics be damned.
Yet they wooed my friend so strongly that he finally couldn't turn them down with all they were offering him (as well as a chance to return to our hometown)...$$, tenure, on-campus perks, sports tickets, etc.
My friend may feel politically "out of sorts," but he's one solid piece of anecdotal evidence that any kind of "discrimination against Conservatives" is either overstated or fairly minor. And he's never expressed one iota of concern about how his politics will mesh with those of his new colleagues.
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 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.
Quote: Darkknight613 said: If conservatives don't want to be college professors while liberals do, why is that the fault of liberals?
"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."
