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From the NewsMax.com Staff
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For the story behind the story...
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Tuesday, March 29, 2005 12:11 a.m. EST
Study Confirms College Profs Are Left-Wing
A new study confirms everything conservatives have been saying for years about liberal college professors – and more.
Seventy-two percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and just 15 percent are conservative – by their own description – says a study appearing in the March issue of the Forum, an online political science journal.
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The study, funded by the Randolph Foundation, a conservative group, found that 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identify themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The gap 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.
Other findings about the professors and instructors surveyed – 1,643 full-time faculty at 183 four-year schools – include:
They describe themselves as strongly or somewhat in favor of abortion rights (84 percent).
They believe homosexuality is acceptable (67 percent).
They want more environmental protection "even if it raises prices or costs jobs" (88 percent).
Sixty-five percent want the government to ensure full employment (a position to the left of the Democratic Party).
The most liberal faculties are those devoted to the humanities (81 percent) and social sciences (75 percent).
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 were found to be 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.
Fifty-one percent of those surveyed say they rarely or never attend church or synagogue and 31 percent identify themselves regular churchgoers.
Seventy-two percent of the full-time faculty are male and 28 percent female.
"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.
Political science professor Stanley Rothman of Smith College, another co-author of the study, sees the findings as evidence of "possible discrimination” against conservatives in hiring and promotion. The study, however, describes this finding as "preliminary."
Meanwhile, Jonathan Knight, director of academic freedom and tenure for the American Association of University Professors, opined: "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."
Be that as it may, the authors of the study concluded that there has been a leftward shift on campus over the past two decades.
Case in point: 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.
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