Study confirms expected: Profs liberal

A new study has confirmed the long-held belief that U.S. universities are dominated by liberal faculty.

The study found that 72 percent of professors identify themselves as liberal while merely 15 percent identify themselves as conservative.

At elite schools the imbalance is even larger -- 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.

"We wanted to compare political views between administrators and faculty," said Stanley Rothman, co-editor of the study and professor emeritus of government at Smith College. He added that not all the data have been analyzed yet.

The results are based on a national survey of 1,643 faculty members from 183 four-year colleges. The research was culled from the 1999 North American Academic Study Survey.

The study was published in last month's issue of The Forum, an online political journal.

"I was surprised. I did not expect the faculty to be so much to the left," Rothman said of the results.

The article said that "even after taking into account the effects of professional accomplishment, along with many other individual characteristics, conservatives and Republicans teach at lower quality schools than do liberals and Democrats."

"We expect if two people who have the same academic achievements, [they] should be in a university of the same caliber," Rothman said. "We see that if it is a conservative and a liberal, the liberal would be in a higher position of achievement."

These findings may give credence to the often-heard complaints of ideologically based discrimination in academic advancement.

For Jonathan Knight, director of academic freedom and tenure for the American Association of University Professors, the discussion should be focused on the reasons for this disparity.

"For decades it has been known that professors have more liberal views and have more progressive views than regular citizens at large," Knight said.

"It is clear that many of the disciplines attract certain kinds of individuals, and that of course can become self-perpetuating," Knight said. "You could ask why business schools are not dominated by those with a liberal viewpoint."

Many critics have cited the recent faculty vote resulting in a lack of confidence in Harvard University President Lawrence Summers as well as the Ward Churchill controversy as evidence of liberal faculty takeover.

Even Penn has not been able to avoid the national debate.

"It is true that a majority of professors at the Academy tend to be liberal-leaning. It is not clear why," College Dean Dennis DeTurck said, adding that "once there is a bias or a perceived bias, it tends to sustain itself and reinforce itself. It's not on purpose or malicious in any way."

But some students disagree.

"I think the disparity found at Penn is clearly evident," Penn College Republicans President Eric Rechtschaffen said, adding that all departments in the College of Arts and Sciences are mostly composed of Democrats.

Calling it a "homogenization of ideas," Rechtschaffen said, "Professors at Penn are clearly used to having one-sided debates."

Rechtschaffen said that numerous students have told him that they have felt "intimidated into silence" about their political views in the classroom.

"This is a major issue for the College Republicans," Recht-schaffen said.

However, College Democrats President Jess Smyth said she has not heard of cases of intimidation on Penn's campus.

Smyth acknowledged that while this issue needs to be addressed, the same attitude needs to be taken towards ensuring diversity in gender and religion.

"As long as the professor is making sure that the dialogue is open, I'm not sure if a person's ideology matters," she said. "It all depends on the quality of the professor."

"The irony is that universities tend to be the most conservative -- in the literal sense -- place on earth," DeTurck said. "What we do is preserve our past and our connection with the past."

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