Lonely Campus Voices (David Brooks whines about bias in colleges)

[depakid]

The New York Times is the latest to publish a piece in the assault "liberal bias" in our nation's universities, this time from noe other than the senior editor of the Weekly Standard. Maybe it hasn't occurred to the Times that this is just a transparent attempt by the far right to intimidate professors, deans and hiring boards- much as they've done to the media. It probably also hasn't occurred to the Times that if such a bias exists, maybe it’s not a bias against conservatives, per se, but a bias against stupidity. Or maybe a bias against those who urge the systematic de-funding of education at all levels....


Most good universities have at least one conservative professor on campus. When, for example, some group at Harvard wants to hold a panel discussion on some political matter, it can bring out the political theorist Harvey Mansfield to hold up the rightward end. At Princeton it's Robert George. At Yale it's Donald Kagan.

These dissenters lead interesting lives. But there's one circumstance that causes true anguish: when a bright conservative student comes to them and says he or she is thinking about pursuing an academic career in the humanities or social sciences.

"This is one of the most difficult things," says Alan Kors, a rare conservative at Penn. "One is desperate to see people of independent mind willing to enter the academic world. On the other hand, it is simply the case they will be entering hostile and discriminatory territory."

"Here's what I'm thinking when an outstanding kid comes in," says George, of Princeton. "If the kid applies to one of the top graduate schools, he's likely to be not admitted. Say he gets past that first screen. He's going to face pressure to conform, or he'll be the victim of discrimination. It's a lot harder to hide then than it was as an undergrad.

<snip>

As a result, faculties skew overwhelmingly to the left. Students often have no contact with adult conservatives, and many develop cartoonish impressions of how 40 percent of the country thinks. Hundreds of conservatives with Ph.D.'s end up working in Republican administrations, in think tanks and at magazines, often with some regrets. "Teaching is this really splendid thing. It would be great to teach Plato's `Republic,' " says Gary Rosen, a Harvard Ph.D. who works at Commentary magazine.

The rest of the article

[LittleApple81]

1. Those poor kids...But this could save them from becoming a David Brooks!

Everybody should be grateful for that.

[liberalhistorian]

2. Oh, boo-hoo,

I am so FUCKING SICK OF HEARING THIS from the repukes and whining wingnuts! First of all, it's bullshit, and secondly, most universities were incredibly conservative until about thirty years ago or so. The winguts control everything now, but the way they whine and carry on, you'd think that they were constantly being attacked by mobs with pitchforks and flaming torches!

And what about business schools? While it is true that the arts and humanities departments of a lot of universities tend to be more liberal, most university business schools are EXTREMELY conservative, and always have been. Quick, how many liberal economists and business executives and professors can you name? Business schools are very hostile to liberals, which is probably why they're vastly outnumbered there. And that's one of the main things that's kept me from getting a MBA or something similar.

[LittleApple81]

3. Totally TRUE!

I know first hand. Most of the faculty (not all, thank goodness) in Business schools are EXTREMELY conservative. With all the scandals about ethics in the corporate world, you should see the vacuous discussions that ensue when ETHICS in the curriculum are discussed. It is really depressing. And do you wanna bet that no major effort is really made to make ethics part of the business curriculum in the majority of the Business Schools in the country.

[suegeo]

4. Correct about B-School

And how about military academies and the nation's war colleges? How conservative are those places? Any liberals on the faculty at those joints?

[OldCurmudgeon]

6. there's plenty of conservatives

in the physical sciences. Liberals too. It's really a mixed bag (IMO) because it's fairly straightforward to keep politics separate from the subject matter.

But for some strange reason, "young earth creationists" get intensely ridiculed none the less.

And "no global warming" apologists aren't taken very seriously by the meterological community.

When repug (or wingnut conservative) party-line topics start to poke into the sciences, even those sciences with significant numbers of conservatives, the wingnuts seem to always pull back a bloody stump.

[mandyky]

5. Sounds like D Brooks agrees with D Horowicz

I think part of the reason for university faculties having so many liberals is that the conservatives are al trying to go out and make big bucks instead of being willing to work for a professor's pay.

[RobinA]

7. Here's A Thought

Maybe if there were more conservatives teaching in liberal arts majors there's be fewer "wingnuts" and more intelligent conservatism. These days, if you are a thinking conservative, which did use to exist, you have NO voice at all. Even previously thoughtful magazines have become havens of Hillary-bashing. Life would be BETTER for liberals, not worse, if the opposing side had more Buckleys and fewer Limbaughs.