One does not have to be a Mensa member to know painting a target on one's back is a bad idea...
Posted on 06/20/2016 7:28:51 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
One way to measure the left-wing bias in academia is by looking at the degree to which those who don't subscribe to that point of view go to camouflage their outlook on life. "Approximately a third of the conservatives we interviewed, for example, concealed their politics prior to tenure by 'passing' as liberals," Jon A. Shields and Joshua M. Dunn, Sr., write in their book, Passing On the Right: Conservative Professors In the Progressive University.
Shields teaches at Claremont McKenna College. Dunn is an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
They traveled extensively in order to gather their subjects. "During these regional trips, we interviewed as many professors as possible, completing 153 interviews at eighty-four colleges and universities," Shields and Dunn report. "With one exception, the identities of the professors have been concealed."
Even with the protection of anonymity, some interview subjects remained wary. "We met our first closeted professor in a leafy park, about one mile from his prestigious research-one university," Shields and Dunn recount. "Though we found a secluded spot, our subject was edgy and spoke softly."
"When the sound of footsteps intruded on our sanctuary, he stopped talking altogether, his eyes darting about. As the sound of footsteps receded into the distance, the promise of anonymity returned and our interview resumed."
"Given the drama of this encounter, one might think that he is concealing something scandalous. In truth, this professor is hiding the fact that he is a Republican. It is a secret he guards with great care."
"This professor of sociology has been in the closet for the better part of a decade, ever since a successful interview for his first tenure-track job."
Oh yeah….Liberals want everyone to “have the freedom to be who you really are”….unless you happen to be a conservative. What gold-plated hypocrites.
One does not have to be a Mensa member to know painting a target on one's back is a bad idea...
Stop hiding and start making noise.
My husband is a professor in a medical field at a major teaching institution. He kept silent about his political beliefs until he achieved tenure. During the election season eight years ago, a couple of the secretaries in his office corridor came to him for help. Some of the doctors were becoming a bit too vocal about their leftist political beliefs, actually against university policy, and we’re making it an uncomfortable work environment for others. They just needed him to step up to the leftist guys and remind them that they had crossed the line, and had created a bad work environment for everyone. He was more than happy to confront them. The conservatives in the department know who each other are and are now pretty open about discussing their politics.
Not that simple. It is like the early days of Christianity, when one person would draw an arc in the ground, and the other a second arc which completed the outline of a fish, because being open meant death. Especially as an adjunct, the only way to keep getting courses is to fly under the radar.
What a contrast. I remember when I was younger, the stereotype of a college professor was someone who was somewhat nerdy, was quiet, conservative in his demeanor and behavior. A college professor was thought to be stuffy and conservative back in the day.
The stuffy quiet college professor, wearing a sports jacket with patches on the elbows, is long gone.
I am a professor at a major land grant university in Kansas.
There are @ 50 tenured professors in our dept. Along with myself, there are probably 10 -15 who are firearms owners and lean to the right on most issues. There is probably a few more but I don’t actively seek out their opinions.
There is one professor who I know for sure is a leftie.
Granted, our dept is Agriculture - based.
MFO
The operative word, of course, being “hiding” - Liberals in academia are at least as intolerant of thought freedom as those in politics.
Ping. I suspect you will find nothing surprising here.
I had dreams about 25 years ago of becoming a college professor in my field of work—nursing.
But I got disabused of that when I went for my master’s degree.The faculty were already crazy PC and this was in the early 90’s. I was still pretty left wing back then but it was like you couldn’t be PC enough. It was a terrible head game and I gradually realized there was no way I could make tenure short of selling my soul to this. So I finished my degree, my formal education, and any dreams of an academic career.
It was also the catalyst that began my conversion to conservatism. Since then I’ve seen the disease of PC metastasize to just about the whole of society.
That not only can get you fired, but it will ensure that you are subjected to endless reviews and “sensitivity training.”
I gave up saying much of anything in department meetings and would only serve on a search committee if I was allowed to freely voice opinions.
Oh, yeah, you can serve on university speakers committees and try and bring in more conservative speakers-—and be outvoted every time 5:1. What purpose does that serve except to waste your time?
Teach your classes, write-—because they can’t stop that-—and stay off university committees.
I work in the community college setting of academia and it is the same way here. The conservatives know each other and we communicate to each other.
Some of the liberal/communist staff know who the conservatives are and will on occasion pick a fight which gets interesting. In the past the previous college president was a former US Marine and conservatives were not messed with, neither were the lib/comms. Now we have a new president who is a total leftist so conservatives are sort of underground. We talk to each other via text of on the phone or in person.
That being said most of the lib/comms know I am a conservative, I have a poster of Reagan on my office wall. They will on occasion start an argument but most leave me alone because I will fire back.
I had a lib/comm. this last Friday start talking about the AR15 and the 2nd Amendments need to be removed. So I asked him, if the government can take away the 2nd Amendment, what is to prevent them from taking the other Amendments away in the Bill of Rights, say the 1st and the Right to political speech and free speech, how would you stop it?
His response well the Supreme Court would stop it. I said really, and cited how the Supreme Court has told Obama several times in regards to immigration and the EPA to cease and desist and yet he ignores the rulings, so tell me again how you would stop the usurpation of the 1st Amendment and the remainder of the Bill of Rights without the 2nd Amendment? He stuttered about and finally said I have to go and left my office. Educated fools.
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