Conservatives have benefited greatly from the demise of a liberal controlled mass media. The loss of stature and influence of the old media is gratifying and cause for much optimism and inspiration. But liberal dominance and exclusionary empire building was never restricted to media.
Allegations of a similar bias in academia and the deliberate suppression of conservative teachings are only now starting to be heard. Commentaries on this subject matter are being picked up beyond conservative websites and the research in this area, once strictly anecdotal, is beginning to meet the rigors of empiricism and scholarly pursuit. Thanks to David Horowitz and a half dozen other pioneers (including the gut-splitting Mike S. Adams), the institution of academia is being scrutinized and one senses, that much like the weakening grip the left has on information, a shake up is in the offing.
Liberals are terrified that conservative commentators have at last raised the hue and cry concerning this systematic, hypocritical bias in education. This bias impacts hiring, promotion and tenure, curriculum and class resources, campus culture, comfort levels of conservative students and even students’ grades.
The studies conducted to date typically yield a minimum 10:1 ratio of Democrats to Republicans among faculty and administration. Students are similarly expressing concern with the lack of ideological diversity on campus and often note it is common to get a university degree without ever encountering a single conservative professor. A balanced approach in the classroom generally consists of a liberal perspective versus a very liberal perspective.
Other concerns associated with this imbalance include the tendency of faculty to introduce material into the curriculum unrelated to the calendar description, refusing to give “equal time” to conservative rebuttals of lecture material, professors who use the classroom as their podium to promote partisan politics and a frustrating lack of accountability — that is to say, a reluctance of administrators to take any of this seriously.
The Christian Science Monitor warns that without a balanced education and the opportunity to learn in a culture of intellectual diversity, a graduating student who has never been exposed to alternative perspectives is unprepared to think critically and can hardly be expected to participate intelligently in constructive discussions regarding social problems and challenges.
When confronted with allegations of a liberal bias, defensive educators and administrators have generally responded in one of three ways. First, there is no bias and it’s just a bunch of paranoid right wing conspiracy theorists making it up. Second, there is a liberal bias and there should be even more of it because it’s a good thing. A third, somewhat more thoughtful response is that the bias is probably real but what to do about it? Perhaps campus culture with its art film festivals and endless parade of socialist speakers is so attractive to liberal graduate students that, unlike conservatives who go off to tackle the real world, they never want to leave. Consequently, their goal is to remain in that environment but make the transition from student to employee.
My suspicion is that my colleagues will dig their heels in on this one and engage in that ever familiar liberal defence; deny, deny, deny. They will band together and refuse to release data that could confirm bias. They will hide behind the faÃ
