30-03-2005 07:16									#1
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quote: 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."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...av=rss_politics

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. I never would've imagined this to be true...

	30-03-2005 07:19									#2
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Conservatives don't like to teach, being that they tend towards anti-social activiites. Liberals love to teach.

	30-03-2005 07:20									#3
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Nice try, but most college professors don't like to teach either...

	30-03-2005 07:22									#4
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1. No, it isn't news as it merely reinforces a tired old stereotype about both sides of the aisle.
2. No, it isn't news because it isn't important, doesn't matter, and there are far more newsworthy things to report about and discuss.

however...

3. Yes, it is news because here we are, talking about it.

	30-03-2005 07:25									#6
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A different study that comes to a similar conclusion...

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekl...st23blues.shtml

	30-03-2005 07:28									#7
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Well, think about it.


- Liberal arts - duh. I don't even think I need an explanation.

- Sciences - the personal goal of a scientist is a thirst and gain of knowledge. Most scientists are not willing to let an absurd amount of morality get in the way of the progress for knowledge, thus they tend to be more liberal.

- Engineering - similar philosophical principles to science I'd think.

- Medicine - Only one I don't have an obvious explanation for, though probably has to do something with a goal of taking care of all people and such. Or something. Probably promoting research akin to the sciences but to help people.

Considering the fact that colleges are meant to be a way to promote diversity and the exchange of ideas, it's no wonder that colleges tend to be more liberal. Liberalism tends to support the freedom of information of all types.

	30-03-2005 07:38									#8
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Wow, most Management and Economics professors call themselves liberal. Well, they'll still be Evil to me.

	30-03-2005 07:50									#9
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It obviously reflects a failure on the part of universities to encourage a healthy discussion among a broad range of ideological stripes. Universities lack diversity.

Perhaps this signals the decline of the university in our society as a focal point for the incubation of ideas.

	30-03-2005 07:56									#10
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Universities have a ton of diversity. Just not political diversity.

	30-03-2005 07:57									#11
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Conservatives would rather go into business than academia. How is that the univeristies' fault?

	30-03-2005 07:57									#12
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quote: Universities have a ton of diversity. Just not political diversity.

And we all know that diversity of thought isn't important at an institute of higher learning.

	30-03-2005 08:08									#13
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What about the military? How do the servicepeople categorize themselves?

	30-03-2005 08:11									#14
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quote: Originally posted by Drake Tungsten quote: Universities have a ton of diversity. Just not political diversity. And we all know that diversity of thought isn't important at an institute of higher learning.

Diversity of thought by including stupidity is good diversity? *ducks*

Actually, I know what you mean. In particular, I'm in a class that's called "The history of race and gender in medicine". Obviously, this class and the teacher has a heavy liberal bias. Everything is treated as fact despite any attempt to be neutral (In particular I remember I was outraged when she said that non-whites can't be racist, or that there is no such thing as a self-made man)

Meh. I wish there was an emphasis on education and research of debates over passion. A huge part of the problems in America today has to do with the fact that truth doesn't matter, and opinions are portrayed to have the same validity as fact. Liberal, conservative, or otherwise.

	30-03-2005 08:13									#15
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quote: What about the military? How do the servicepeople categorize themselves?

I don't know.

	30-03-2005 08:16									#16
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quote: Originally posted by Bill3000 (In particular I remember I was outraged when she said that non-whites can't be racist, or that there is no such thing as a self-made man)

If racism is defined as a system of power relations (which is how it is defined in academia), then it is true that non-whites cannot be racists in our society, as they do not have the power to enforce their prejudices. Most (non-academic) whites reject that defintion, however.

As for the self-made man, she is correct. Everyone receives some help from other human beings. No one does everything alone.

	30-03-2005 08:21									#17
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This interests me for one reason:

The 'hard sciences' departments (engineering, etc) have a reputation for being 'more conservative' that seems to be an illusion. According to this, people in applied/professional programmes ALSO tend to be american-style 'liberals'.

	30-03-2005 08:27									#18
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Oh course. The smarter you are, the more likely you are to be lean left. It allows you to see the interconnectedness of our species and the need for us to work together.

	30-03-2005 08:30									#19
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara Oh course. The smarter you are, the more likely you are to be lean left.

	30-03-2005 08:30									#20
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quote: Oh course. The smarter you are, the more likely you are to be lean left.

	30-03-2005 08:59									#21
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I could see that theory work out up to a certain point, but not much. Einstien and Newton weren't anarchists.

I see it in the fact that smarter people tend to love the concept of research of new knowledge more, and thus are alienated by more conservative non-scientific points of view. But you don't have to be an anarchist to be a deist or agnostic as a good amount of scientists are.

Plus, you can still be conservative economically and promote science while having a disgust toward religious evangicals: I've seen this in neo-conservatives.

	30-03-2005 09:09									#22
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quote: Originally posted by Bill3000 I could see that theory work out up to a certain point, but not much. Einstien and Newton weren't anarchists.

No, but Einstein was a socialist.

You should look up is essay, "Why Socialism?"

	30-03-2005 09:14									#23
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I wonder what would be the results of such a study in European countries, where the replies are based on the political spectrum of that country.

I'd expect a clear domination of the center-left, but I think it would be less drastic than that, considering that the right isn't associated with anti-science in most European countries.

	30-03-2005 09:32									#24
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quote: considering that the right isn't associated with anti-science in most European countries.

Neither is it in the US.

	30-03-2005 09:38									#25
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Err, which political party is associated with attempts to ban the teaching of evolution in highschools? Which one wants to shut down the research on stem cells?

	30-03-2005 09:40									#26
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quote: It obviously reflects a failure on the part of universities to encourage a healthy discussion among a broad range of ideological stripes. Universities lack diversity.

Don't be stupid. It does not. They just tend to lack stupid people.

If someone in the biology department, or any other department, except maybe theology or religious studies, denied evolution they would be laughed off campus. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of religious people among the faculty, it's just that universities aren't amenable to fundies.

Economic conservatism is also a proven stupid idea. You'll find that most faculty (apart from the politicos) support the mixed economy and the welfare state.

Why? Because it works, and because they're decent people. You can't espouse conservative economics in decent company, because it's so obviously like defending child molestation. And you definitely aren't going to find the kind of knuckle dragging conservatism of fundies, because you have to be completely disconnected from reality to believe that tripe.

In short, when you get a bunch of clever people around and give them time to think, they'll tend to come to agreement about the moronic features of our society which are produced by people who don't think about what they're doing.

That doesn't mean agreement about politics, religion, gender, science or any of the things that they deal with, but it does mean that there is a definite rejection of monumentally daft and unsupportable ideas, which unfortunately are what comprises most of contemporary social conservatism.

	30-03-2005 09:45									#27
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quote: Originally posted by Agathon Economic conservatism is also a proven stupid idea. You'll find that most faculty (apart from the politicos) support the mixed economy and the welfare state.

In my experience, there's a quasi-consensus for free markets with only a bare minimum of State intervention. And the pure economists tend to be worse than the politicos.

quote: [...]because you have to be completely disconnected from reality.

That's actually what much of academia is about. At least in humanities, where many scholars won't bother honestly substantiang their speculations. I have found the level of some scholarly texts to be sub-Poly, as they were pure BAMs the author were convinced of.

	30-03-2005 09:46									#28
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On a slightly less trollish note..

What conservative beliefs do you think that the faculty should have to remain balanced?

Should we have advocates for:

anti-evolution

religious intolerance

segregation

anti-homosexuality

misogyny

What is it that you want?

	30-03-2005 09:48									#29
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quote: That's actually what much of academia is about. At least in humanities, where many scholars won't bother honestly substantiang their speculations. I have found the level of some scholarly texts to be sub-Poly, as they were pure BAMs the author were convinced of.

Yes, but you live in France. It is done differently elsewhere.

	30-03-2005 09:49									#30
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I'm just waiting for affirmative action for Republicans...