[Mr. Blonde]

I think the professor's view of the University of Texas is pretty funny. It is after all in the one very liberal (although very cool) area of Texas and probably gives Oregon a run for its money in liberal thought. In addition, I don't know but highly suspect that it is a better school than Oregon. That is why he should go there over Oregon.

My experience with school is much the same. Although I find that it is more conservative figureheads are more often attacked than the actual ideas. I had a professor send us out of the classroom after the final with a paper asking us to sign a petition to impeach President Bush.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"A number of conservative students told me they felt Republican ideas were frequently caricatured and rarely presented fairly. Did the dearth of conservative professors on campus and apparent marginalization of ideas on the right belie the university's commitment to providing a marketplace of ideas?"

Very common. They might not know what conservative ideas are at all. I was the only Catholic and conservative guy in a department at a supposedly Catholic university. Go figure. Liberals have weird ideas about conservatives. Some really don't have a clue. When they talk about "diversity" they don't mean ANY conservatives or Christians being included.

[Freedom of Speech Wins]

The student seems to not be at all aware or doesn't address that Republicans would be discriminated against and weeded out in the hiring process.

The numbers he finds are certainly not coincidence.

He seems concerned that hiring any conservatives to get their viewpoint would be discriminatory, but the numbers they have show that the discrimination has been the other way.

Then it carries through to grading of the students. In political classes if you want an A you need to take the professor's liberal position. Best you can get otherwise is maybe a B.

[Arguendo]

The fact that Republicans are virtually absent from even the economics department says a lot. Even at a school as liberal as Harvard, the economics department is fairly conservative--for instance, Greg Mankiw teaches intro economics, the most popular class on campus--because many of the best in the field are conservatives.

In some departments, I can at least understand the argument that most professors will be liberal because nearly everyone in the field is liberal. But this is not true of economics, and the disparity there is strong evidence of systemic hiring bias at the university.

[Jubal Madison]

My youngest daughter attends a university in Oklahoma. She is fairly conservative and also vocal on her beliefs. Her experience has been that with the exception of one professor, she has been treated fairly. Although the professors may lean left, conservative ideas and students are treated with respect. I personally don’t have a problem with an instructors political views, as long as dissent can be open and free. One of my richest learning experiences came from a professor who I loved and was further left than Karl Marx. He taught me to think - and that is a lesson I carry with me to this day.-—JM

[Jagman]

"in the one very liberal (although very cool) area of Texas"

This is a big problem for me. The places I love in America have all gone blue. New England (now including New Hampshire), California, Colorado, Oregon, Hawaii, you name it. It's almost like they planned to take over these areas of the country. I hate it!

[bamahead]

Ping that might interest you

[marron]

a professor with a right-leaning perspective would not only provide a balance in curriculum, but a potential mentor to conservative students who feel isolated in their beliefs. At left-leaning universities, such professors should be aggressively pursued.

Like thats going to happen.

Actually, these people have no idea what constitutes conservative thought, and couldn't explain it if they had to.

The best they could come up with would be caricatures about racist war-mongers. Essentially for them "conservative" is like "fascism". They don't know what it means, they just apply the word to whatever they don't like.

I don't actually care what a professor's views are if he doesn't impose them on his students, but its inevitable that they do. If I had a dollar for every Halliburton rant in an english lit classroom in America I could make my house payment.

[traditional1]

That’s because “educated” and “intellectuals” are Liberals, and Conservatives are just bible-thumping, un-educated, gun-toting hicks, don’t ya know?

[VeniVidiVici]

If professors had to have experience in the private sector outside of academia as a requirement to be hired on as a professor, I doubt many liberals would make the cut.

[jnsun]

Both students and faculty at universities live in an aloof sequestered world. In such a world Ego and emotion can prevail over the hard reality of actually creating, producing, developing, or even managing something the wider world will purchase. Clearly demonstrated by the female faculty member's tirade.

Being familiar with it, Oregon in general, kind of like Minnesota, is suburban LaLa land. The geography is beautiful, the people courteous, but now the hard reality of work, production, and self honesty is beginning to set in; it has one of the most descending employment and economic spirals in the nation.

However the real political aspect is that very very few, maybe including the author of the article, simply have no fundamental concept of what conservatism is.

How we have totally lost that concept, over the last forty years, I'm not sure. It has to do with being spoiled, indolent (like university professors), and mass brainwashing by the Media. But it surely is not going to be reversed until clear articulation of the Left versus the Right surfaces. And the mass Media of today is the enemy.

[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you for posting this excellent article, based on an excellent and creative piece of research. This young man will (or at least should) go far in journalism, provided he chooses the electronic media, not the dead tree media.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, "A Map-Based Answer to the Palin Question"

[ex-snook]

Maybe if they were rewarded like investment bankers the teaching profession would attract more republicans.

[Danae]

U of O is blatantly Liberal and has been for years. Back in 89 it was one reason I chose NOT to go there and went to OSU instead, which was a little bit better anyway.

[anonsquared]

There is a way to take this head on, but you have to change the equation.

The cost of going to University is going sky high and with credit drying up will soon be out of reach for middle class Americans. Why should taxpayers continue to foot the bill for bloated University campuses, when most classes could be done online?

You really only need buildings to teach the hard sciences. Journalism, law, political science, economics, and sociology could easily be taught online along with all the fluff classes currently offered at most colleges. Once online the taxpayers could monitor what was being taught and the great minds of the nation could weigh in and write counter arguments for the students to read.

The taxpayers save money and education is again balanced - win/win.

[a fool in paradise]

Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING

The University of Oregon (UO), where I study journalism...

[Blind Eye Jones]

What's the stereotype of conservatives that liberals readily believe? Here is one: greedy, corpulent, white, bigoted bastards dressed in suits and out to screw the world (Rove & Cheney?). Nothing decent, caring or "cool" here. The fat cowardly type is a variation on this theme and is perfectly portrayed in the movie "The Big Libowsky." That particular image has been around for a long time. Obama has another image of conservatives which includes bitterness, religion and guns (the rednecks).

Most people who watch TV, go to movies, read the newspapers and have been educated will see conservative in this light. They have been seeing conservatives this way since at least the 60s. So why would they vote for them? Because they will protect America. That's about it. When America is not threaten, which the Democrats sold to the people prior to the last election, they will vote Democrat.

[Bob]

From the article:

I simply believe in the concept of diversity – a primarily liberal idea – and think that we suffer when we don't include ideas we find unappealing.

The "primarily liberal" idea of diversity doesn't have anything to do with ideas at all -- it involves a group which consists of do-gooder guilty white liberals, black liberals, gay liberals, radical feminist liberals, and Hispanic liberals. No conservatives need apply.