It is a well-known fact that professors lean to the left. According to a recently released study by the Institute for Jewish & Community Research, professors are more likely to identify as liberals than as conservatives by a ratio of 3-to-1. In the social sciences and humanities the figure is 5-to-1.
These findings were not particularly surprising. More interesting are the effects of this overwhelming ideological uniformity. According to our survey, 63% of American faculty members say that their colleagues are sometimes reluctant to express their true opinions when those opinions contradict dominant views on campus. In institutions whose very reason for being is to promote free inquiry, that number should be zero.
If most American professors — even those protected by tenure — feel constrained in speaking their minds, then American campuses are going to be poor places to learn.
