"Ithaca College Faculty 94% Liberal, and Think It's OK"

ChronWatch, Striving for Balance in the News ^ | Friday, April 18, 2003 | Posted by the ChronWatch Founder, Jim Sparkman

[Behind Liberal Lines]

ANybody know anything about Cornell Law School? Our #1 son will be going there in the Fall.

The September 2002 issue of American Enterprise had an article about how the nation’s colleges are not merely overrun by liberals, but that there are so many liberals on campus that conservatives are virtually non-existent.

And one of the worst offenders? You guessed it: Cornell University (no wonder they call it “the Big Red”), of which only approximately three percent of its professors are “republican” or “conservative.” And when you consider that the study counted libertarians as “conservative,” you realize that the number could actually be even lower.

How bad is three percent compared to other colleges of note? Let’s put it this way: not only is it lower than Harvard (recently in the news for ITS skewed faculty population), but is even lower than Berkeley, long considered the most liberal campus anywhere in America!

Even the Ithaca Times has picked up on the “no Republicans welcome in Ithaca” vibe. In their recent “Welcome to Ithaca” issue they advised newcomers: “If you are Republican, get a thick skin. Ithaca has been liberal for about as long as anyone can remember, and …Republicans usually have a hard time here.”

Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[Under the Radar]

Anybody know anything about Cornell Law School? Our #1 son will be going there in the Fall.

Congratulations to your son! CLL, like many law schools, is less homogenous in its liberalism than other departments on campus. There are some conservative faculty there, and there are several over-the-top Marxists. Encourage him to join the Federalist society, and read a lot of Scalia.

FRegards,

UtR

[Soaring Feather]

bump

[SuziQ]

Oh I will encourage him to read Scalia! My Mama met Judge Scalia a few years ago, and discovered that we might be kin! His family name is my paternal great grandmother's name, and their families came from the same town in Sicily!

[Hobsonphile]

Leftism on Campus ping!

If you would like to be added to the Leftism on Campus ping list, please
notify me via FReep-mail.

Regards...

[Atticus]

Anybody know anything about Cornell Law School? Our #1 son will be going there in the Fall.

I can tell you first hand that your son has made an excellent choice. The Law School, at least from the students' perspective, is fairly independent of the University. The faculty, regardless of their political bent, are highly dedicated and professional. Some of the more influential professors are very conservative, especially in economic matters. The liberal ones are not particularly offensive or confrontational, and a few of those can best be described as tokens or slackers. During the Clinton impeachment proceedings, seventy or so law school professors from across the country published a letter in support of impeachment. A fair number of Cornell Law professors signed on. (I'll try to find a link to the letter when I have more time). Congratulations on your son's accomplishment.

[SuziQ]

Thanks! That makes me feel better. I asked him today why he chose Cornell, and he said it was because it was one of the top tier schools, but wasn't too far from home. That's nice. ;o)

BTW, great Lawyer name FR handle!

[bc2]

c'mon, BLL... just because you're behind enemy lines is no excuse to forget that your libertarian and LP friends are exactly that...

who is going to hold the conservative torch now that the Republicans have all gone the way of the feel-good limo liberal? Libertarians are conservatives, and I'd much rather have a libertarian or LP member professor than I would a left-wing, liberal republican.

[xm177e2]

LOL

[Behind Liberal Lines]

You make a good point, bc2. Not all liberatarians are liberal. A goodly number would fall into conservative catagory. However, in my experience, some people who call themselves libertarian are actually liberal.

Since not all libertarians are conservative, calling them conservative potentially means the number of conservatives postulated at CU is actually lower than stated.

[bc2]

"Since not all republicans are conservative, calling them conservative potentially means the number of conservatives postulated at CU is actually lower than stated."

see what I mean?

I have enough heartburn telling pot-smoking socialists YOU ARE NOT LIBERTARIANS without having to fight this out with conservatives!

normally we just start talking about machine guns and the commies get scared and leave us alone, never again to think of themselves as Libertarians!

most of the Libertarians I am friends with are much more conservative than your average Republican, so your theory must be local.

For instance... there is no Monroe County Young Republicans. Why? I was going to start one, but then I found out the NYSYR are hacks. They don't care about the Constitution, they care about power. I would not be able to criticize Republicans for not following the Constitution if I started a YR chapter. Well, F*@K that. I'm an American first, not a Republican.

The energy I would have used to create a YR group here in Rochester went towards building up the Monroe County Libertarian Party with my new, constitutionally minded conservative friends.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

I have enough heartburn telling pot-smoking socialists YOU ARE NOT LIBERTARIANS without having to fight this out with conservatives!

bc2, this sentence of yours gets to what I was getting at. I was simply noting that some of the Cornell libertarians might actually be "pot-smoking socialists."

We cool now?

[bc2]

we were cool then and I sure hope we're cool now.

I still want to get the insiders tour of Socialist Ithaca one of these days this summer... I'll send you e-mail, maybe you could show me around if I buy you lunch?

let me know if you're interested!

[Behind Liberal Lines]

we were cool then and I sure hope we're cool now.

Yeah, we're cool. Just a couple of Fonzies (to paraphrase Pulp Fiction). :-)

[brownie]

I don't know anything specific about Cornell Law, but almost all law schools are extemely liberal, both in faculty and students. He just has to suffer through.