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."

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 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.

The study appears in the March issue of the Forum, an online political
science journal. It was funded by the Randolph Foundation, a right-leaning
group that has given grants to such conservative organizations as the
Independent Women's Forum and Americans for Tax Reform.

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."
The study, however, describes this finding as "preliminary."

When asked about the findings, Jonathan Knight, director of academic freedom
and tenure for the American Association of University Professors, said, "The
question is how this translates into what happens within the academic
community on such issues as curriculum, admission of students, evaluation of
students, evaluation of faculty for salary and promotion." Knight said he
isn't aware of "any good evidence" that personal views are having an impact
on campus policies.

"It's hard to see that these liberal views cut very deeply into the
education of students. In fact, a number of studies show the core values
that students bring into the university are not very much altered by being
in college."

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.

In contrast with the finding that nearly three-quarters of college faculty
are liberal, a Harris Poll of the general public last year found that 33
percent describe themselves as conservative and 18 percent as liberal.

The liberal label that a majority of the faculty members attached to
themselves is reflected on a variety of issues. The professors and
instructors surveyed are, strongly or somewhat, in favor of abortion rights
(84 percent); believe homosexuality is acceptable (67 percent); and want
more environmental protection "even if it raises prices or costs jobs" (88
percent). What's more, the study found, 65 percent want the government to
ensure full employment, a stance to the left of the Democratic Party.

Recent campus controversies have reinforced the left-wing faculty image. The
University of Colorado is reviewing its tenure system after one professor,
Ward Churchill, created an uproar by likening World Trade Center victims to
Nazis. Harvard's faculty of arts and sciences voted no confidence in the
university's president, Lawrence Summers, after he privately wondered
whether women had the same natural ability as men in science and math.

The study did not attempt to examine whether the political views of faculty
members affect the content of their courses.

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.

Top-tier schools, roughly a third of the total, are defined as highly ranked
liberal arts colleges and research universities that grant PhDs.

The most liberal faculties are those devoted to the humanities (81 percent)
and social sciences (75 percent), according to the study. But liberals
outnumbered conservatives even among engineering faculty (51 percent to 19
percent) and business faculty (49 percent to 39 percent).

The most left-leaning departments are English literature, philosophy,
political science and religious studies, where at least 80 percent of the
faculty say they are liberal and no more than 5 percent call themselves
conservative, the study says.

"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."

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I hated most of my college professors. I guess that's why I ended up as a
conservative. ;-)