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Liberalism on Campus
The Dartmouth ^ | November 10, 2010 | Roger Lott

Posted on 11/10/2010 7:44:58 AM PST by JohnRLott

An axe-wielding Christ-figure stands before a fallen cross and a junk heap of shattered cultural symbols. Small, ghostly children stand in the shadow of a zombie-like schoolteacher, their gray-and-black schoolhouse looming in the distance. A gray-skinned Hernan Cortez stands in front of his burning ships, standing over piles of naked Native bodies lying at his feet.

These are some of the scenes José Clemente Orozco paints in “The Epic of American Civilization,” which is housed in Baker Library’s Reserve Corridor. Although Orozco shied away from politics, it’s not hard to guess where his sympathies lay. His belief in the need for a seismic change in economic systems is evident in his depiction of a socialist utopia rising from the ruin of our tumultuous capitalistic world. . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at thedartmouth.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: academia; democrats; education; fail; indoctrination; liberalfascism; liberalism; liberalprogressivism; moralabsolutes; progressives; universities
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To: warchild9

Too much time listening to the radio? Maybe too much time arguing with other idiots on the interweb?

“Conservative Professors Hard To Find”

...By coincidence, this leftward surge is the topic of a just-published investigation, “Politics and Professional Advancement Among College Faculty.” Ponderous title aside, this rigorous and important study contains much of interest.

Using such methodologies as cross-tabulating political self-descriptions and multiple regression analysis, the co-authors - an emeritus professor of government at Smith College, Stanley Rothman; a professor of communication at George Mason University, S. Robert Lichter, and a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, Neil Nevitte - answer two questions:

•How do American faculty see politics?
When professors are asked about their political outlook, they call themselves liberal about four times more often than the general public. In some departments (English literature most of all, followed by philosophy, political science, and religious studies), more than 80% of the faculty calls itself liberal and less than 5% calls itself conservative. This disparity has prompted “a substantial shift to the left” since the mid-1980s, and is still increasing.

•Why are faculties so liberal?
Conservatives complain of endemic political bias. Liberals retort that conservatives are dumb. In the words of Robert Brandon, chairman of Duke University’s philosophy department, “We try to hire the best, smartest people available. If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire.”

Which side is correct? The conservatives are.

Mr. Rothman, et al., find that, even when professional accomplishments are equal, a more liberal outlook predicts “a significantly higher quality of institutional affiliation.” They even assign a number to this liberal edge: “The ideological orientations of professors are about one-fifth as important as their professional achievements in determining the quality of the school” for which they work. This means, Robert Lichter said, “Republicans get worse jobs than Democrats.”

Conservative complaints about “liberal homogeneity in academia deserve to be taken seriously,” the authors conclude. They also state that their findings “suggest strongly that a leftward shift has occurred on college campuses in recent years, to the extent that political conservatives have become an endangered species in some departments.”

Endangered species? In the more pungent observation by David Horowitz, “Universities are a left wing monolith these days. A conservative professor, or a Republican or evangelical Christian professor, is as rare as a unicorn.” A Harvard Crimson article acknowledges that the Rothman study implies that “Kremlin on the Charles [River]” might in fact be accurate when applied to Harvard.

The Rothman team’s work is not likely to receive much of a hearing on campus. The executive director of the Modern Language Association, Rosemary G. Feal, responded to its findings with predictable outrage: “It boggles my mind the degree to which this is rubbish.”

Assuming that Ms. Feal’s reaction will be the predominant one, the job of creating political balance at Columbia and other universities will require more than nicely asking professors to hire conservatives. It will take a concentrated and protracted effort by stakeholders – alumni, students, parents of students, legislators - to reclaim an institution that has become a fortress for the left.” http://www.meforum.org/pipes/2526/conservative-professors-an-endangered-species

And there’s Mike Adams. His first book, Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel, came out in 2004. His second book, Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts “Womyn” On Campus, was published in 2008.


21 posted on 11/10/2010 9:34:30 AM PST by flowerplough (Thomas Sowell: Those who look only at Obama's deeds tend to become Obama's critics.)
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To: warchild9

Okay so you made them up just like I thought.

Oh so your own personal poll is a reflection of the country? Come on man.... You are killing me! I


22 posted on 11/10/2010 9:59:34 AM PST by Sprite518
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To: flowerplough

Bingo! You nailed it on the head. Great post!


23 posted on 11/10/2010 10:09:28 AM PST by Sprite518
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To: Balding_Eagle

Agree.. I smell a rat...


24 posted on 11/10/2010 10:17:42 AM PST by Sprite518
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To: JohnRLott

Professor Mary Coffey neatly debunks all of Roger’s assertions in her op-ed, A Mural Imperative: http://thedartmouth.com/2010/11/11/opinion/coffey

Roger has been at Dartmouth for under 10 weeks, and this is what, his third op-ed about things that offend him? It’s been five years since my graduation in Hanover, but I certainly don’t recall any promises at matriculation that the College would cater everything around my own sense of propriety.


25 posted on 11/11/2010 1:21:37 PM PST by Armand_Scolieri
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To: epithermal
Charles Ingles, father of Laura Ingles Wilder ( author of “The Little House on the Prairie” ), managed to get potable water for his family using the most primitive tools.

I read that posters comment too and thought, “What a flaming useful idiot!” If 1 billion people do not have potable water, maybe we should air drop automatic assault rifles to them so they can shoot the communist and Islamic fascist despots that keep them from that water.

Unbelievable!

Conservatives should seriously consider NEVER sending their child to a school like Dartmouth.

26 posted on 11/11/2010 1:37:50 PM PST by wintertime (Re: Obama, Rush Limbaugh said, "He was born here." ( So? Where's the proof?))
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To: warchild9
There is plenty of information about the political leanings of college faculty.

At the Univ. of Pennsylvania, for one example, the ratio of registered Democrats to Republicans is 12 to 1.

I expect that the ratio among those college faculty members not in the hard sciences, business, and economics would be a 100 to 1. ( My guess.)

Dont’ believe me? Do a Google combinations of the words: Percent Democrat faculty college.

27 posted on 11/11/2010 1:52:17 PM PST by wintertime (Re: Obama, Rush Limbaugh said, "He was born here." ( So? Where's the proof?))
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To: wintertime

It is amazing, isn’t it. We get our drinking water from a spring that I maintain so I have no empathy for people who can’t figure out how to develop a clean source of water. It isn’t rocket science, but it does require a lot of work.

I can only imagine what a sheltered existence that person has who whines about the billion people without clean water. I think people like that are truly aliens and there is no way to make sense of them. Most of them gravitate to a liberal niche because it is a refuge for so many mental cases.

I think your idea about assault rifles may be the best way to solve the problem. I see a lot of our tax dollars wasted on trying to teach people in third world countries how to develop their own water. For instance I saw on TV a documentary about the “playpump” system that was heralded as a great achievement which was payed in large part by USA aid. But, the program pointed out that in a few years most of the pumps weren’t operating because the local populace didn’t have the skills to keep them running. You can lead a horse to water, but ... Here is some info on the playpump:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout_PlayPump


28 posted on 11/11/2010 3:28:26 PM PST by epithermal
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To: warchild9

You’re actually an idiot. Beside my stats are both real stats AND experience. I am sure the college campuses like you teaching . . . you with your condescending narcissism (but hey that’s redundant.). Just the sort teaching all over America on college and university campuses. Idiots with a blown up ego that treat students like mindless bowls to be filled with their BS. I am sure you fit in well.


29 posted on 11/11/2010 9:41:10 PM PST by GOP Poet (Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
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