Outnumbered: Academia’s Tilted Ideological Landscape

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | October 28, 2019 | Shannon Watkins

[karpov]

The fact that conservatives are outnumbered on college campuses isn’t groundbreaking news. The amount of ink that’s been spilled recounting the left’s stronghold on the academy and the threats that such ideological imbalance poses to rigorous academic inquiry—not to mention the perverse effects it wields on the culture—has been enough to fill volumes of journals, articles, and books.

But, given that robust dialogue and competing ideas are crucial for the pursuit of truth, the need to shine a light on higher education’s ideological homogeneity is crucial until a healthier balance is established. A recent talk by North Carolina State University political science professor Andrew Taylor did just that.

On October 22, Taylor gave his remarks at an event hosted by the ICON (Issues Confronting Our Nation) lectures series. ICON is a non-profit organization based in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Taylor’s talk was entitled “Minority Report: The Status of Conservatives on the 21st Century College Campus.” Taylor likened his talk to a “state of the union” address regarding the dearth of conservatives in academia.

Taylor started his talk by describing the climate on college campuses and provided a wealth of data to illustrate the academy’s ideological imbalance. He first focused on the deficit of conservative faculty members in many departments.

The ratio of liberal to conservative political science faculty, for example, is startling— something that Taylor discovered in a study he conducted with Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico. The study, “Partisan Affiliation in Political Science: Insights from Florida and North Carolina,” was recently published by the American Political Science Association.

[Da Coyote]

Water seeks the lowest level.
So does academia and the deep state.
Period.

Liberals & progressives are unmatched in placing their untalented carcasses in high positions.

They are also unmatched in their unique ability to screw up everything they touch once they get into those positions.

The solution is Bastille II and guillotines.

Period.

[Varda]

A paper I read years ago explained that the American faculty of universities in the first half of the 20th century were unaware that their leftist counterparts were actually of a different culture.

American universities once prided themselves on open discourse and ideas. They valued different viewpoints. Being leftist was no impediment to advancement and tenure. However leftists don’t value open discourse. Once in positions to hire, they systematically hired almost exclusively other leftists.

Basically leftists are like cancer, eventually they’ll kill the host.

[Savage Beast]

"But, given that robust dialogue and competing ideas are crucial for the pursuit of truth"

Watkins begins with a false assumption. The pursuit of truth is by no means a given in 21st century American academia.

In fact, truth--truth for its own sake--is not the objective of 21st century academic "education;" not only is it beside the point, but truth is held in contempt.

The point of 21st century academic "education" is indoctrination of all "students" into the political "ideology" of left-wing politics, a commitment to the confused "ideals" of the counter-culture movement that burst into the open in the 1960s, which includes, among other things, Marxism, confusion about law and what laws should be obeyed, the vague encouragement of drug use, et al., but whose true ideology is the establishment of a totalitarian oligarchy willing to tolerate and encourage the mantras of the counter-culture movement: "If it feels good do it" and "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll."

This is a rough explanation of the political "ideology" of left-wing politics, but its true "ideology" is merely support for the decadence of Western Civilization and the politicians who encourage it.

It's about the empowerment of favored politicians.

It has nothing to do with the pursuit of truth.