Fox News Publicizes Study Finding 93.6% Democrats/Greens in Ithaca College Faculty

Fox News - Tongue Tied ^

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Carping about the excesses of clueless crybabies since the turn of the century.

Tongue Tied at Foxnews.com

April 17, 2003

Surprise Surprise

A survey of political diversity at Ithaca College in New York found that of 125 professors who registered to vote at the college 93.6 percent did so as Democrats or Greens, reports the Ithacan.

According to the study, sponsored by student Republicans and the local Republican party, only eight of the 125 professors on campus who registered with a political affiliation in the county describe themselves as Republican or Conservatives.

Asma Barlas, an associate professor of politics, says she is a firm believer in diversity, but not the sort of diversity the Republicans have in mind.

“I do believe Ithaca College can do a better job of diversifying its faculty, most of whom are white males,” she said. “Not having a Republican on our faculty is not the only yardstick by which we can measure diversity.”

[Mind-numbed Robot]

It is hard to determine, for me at least, whether these leftist professors are actually so blind to their hypocrisy as to be blatant or if they have become fearless of consequences. I suspect the latter.

A new day is coming and they will again be sulking in the shadows.

[mc5cents]

My son, who I am proud to say is a staunch conservative, attended Ithaca College, for one(1) semester. Hated it. Place is crawling with NYC and Long Island "prince & princesses" and the faculty is pure commie. The food was excellent though, he said. Also he had a great view of lake Cayuga from his dorm window in one of the towers, which btw I thought looked like fire traps. Don't forget too that Cornell University is right next door which gives the place a real Moscow on the Lake appeal.

[FreedomPoster]

>>I suspect the latter.

Me, too. The key issue is the tenure process. It is impossible for a conservatives to conceal their political preferences long enough to obtain tenure and be safe from being released.

The tenure system must die or undergo some serious modification.

[goldstategop]

Formally universities are not supposed to ask. But if you're a Ph.D candidate you can be sure your political preferences are known long before you apply for a position, and if you're deemed to be insufficiently Marxist or anti-American, you can forget about tenure. In a way the enemies of freedom have turned our institutions of higher education into a bastion to assault our free society. Its no accident to say the barbarians are right inside our ivory towers.

[BrooklynGOP]

A survey of political diversity at Ithaca College in New York found that of 125 professors who registered to vote at the college 93.6 percent did so as Democrats or Greens, reports the Ithacan.

So much for affirmative action.

[goldstategop]

I agree. Its unacceptable and intolerable for educational institutions to be so unrepresentative of a society's political diversity that they end up corrupting its values. The tenure system is in need of a major overhaul. I no reason why tradition aside, Marxists and anti-American radicals need or deserve lifetime tenure subsidized by the taxpayers at our universities when the rest of us don't even enjoy the benefits of lifetime job security.

[sausageseller]

I didn't see anywhere that Ithaca College asks applicants their political registration when applying for a position. Wouldn't the individuals party affiliation need to be known to the school to discriminate based on it.

SS. Then how do YOU account for their one side political views?

It is obvious through their hiring procedure, they acheive nondiversity of political opinion and ideas.

[goldstategop]

Yup. They take a look at your paper trail or they ask you before you get hired or they ask your faculty committee or whatever. And if its known you're not a Leftie, you just won't get hired.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

It's true that there have been a number of threads on this story. Some of us feel that the issue of a lack of diversity of thought in academia is a serious problem. David Horowitz at Front Page is conducting a real crusade on the issue.

Each of the threads has added additional information that some have found interesting.

As for political affiliation being known, in New York State when people register to vote they have the option, which most exercise, to register with a political party. That information is a matter of public record, and is exactly how the authors of the study determined the affiliations of the IC professors.

In any case, the faculty hiring committee surely reviews the publications of any applicant, and quickly determines their political orientation.

[familyofman]

"if you're a Ph.D candidate you can be sure your political preferences are known long before you apply for a position"

How would a Ph D. candidate in Math, Engineering, Business...have his political views known? Political Science or Econ. I can see - but not everyone.

How about all businesses not just universities require you to disclose your political affiliations prior to employment - I don't think so.

[goldstategop]

And vets out those who won't follow the party line. There was more diversity of thought in the old Soviet Communist Party than there is in our entire university campus faculties today. Scary but true.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

For sheer left-wing looniness, I'd say that Asma Barlas's web site is topped by this one, from fellow IC politics professor Zillah Eisenstein:

http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/eisenste/index.htm

You'll note she proudly describes herself as an "activist" and a "critic of global activism." So much for the claim of the IC Dean who in defending the college against the results of the study claimed the profs were objective and didn't try to proselytize.

By the way, this is the professor who told her students who were pro-Bush on Iraq to get out of her class because they were a "waste of her time."

[goldstategop]

They can check voting records, bios, clubs you belonged to, activities you were involved in, most of which is a matter of public record. It doesn't matter outside academe, since competence and the ability to do the job counts for more than ideological conformity. In the ivory tower, what's most prized isn't genuine independence of mind, but following the collective herd.

[Right Wing Professor]

One's politics are generally pretty obvious; in a highly politicized department they will come up in the job interview. A few years ago a favorite question was 'have you read the Bell Curve?'; correct asnwer "no", preferably combined with a barfing imitation.

A former colleague of mine did a similar study on the U. of Nebraska faculty; in a heavily republican state, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 2:1 . When you broke it down by college it was even more interesting; most of the professional schools (except law) were about evenly divided or slightly republican; but Arts and Sciences and Fine Arts were 71% and 77% Democrat respectively; the remainder (IIRC) broke about evenly Republican and Independent. The reason why I, as a chemist, am campus faculty advisor to the College Republicans is that they can't find a Republican in Poli. Sci.

My friend, incidentally, made no secret of his politics here, and was denied tenure. He was hired by a smaller state college, stayed religiously out of politics, and was promoted to associate professor early. last year. Just before he came up for tenure, his colleagues found out he'd done the survey. Even though they'd voted to promote him just the previous year, they denied him tenure last year.

No conservative faculty member on campus will be surprised at the survey, and few will dispute that in many Departments, particularly the humanities, fine arts and social science, one's job may be jeopardized by being revealed to be a conservative republican. Fortunately, most hard scientists are quite apolitical.

[WarrenC]

True. There was an article in, I think, the Wall Street Journal a couple years ago which documented the liberal domination of the University of Colorado faculty. The article described the quasi-Stalinist tactics of intimidation used by faculty members at that University against anyone who challenged the prevailing liberal orthodoxy. You certainly don't have to search for obscure colleges to find examples of this situation.

[Right Wing Professor]

Often they just ask. Other times they throw out their own views and see how you react.

I'm in a hard science department; we're about as apolitical as any. Even so, on my interview here, one senior faculty member made a couple of disparaging remarks about George HW Bush, who was president at the time (I answered non-committally). Another made frequent anti-Christian and anti-religious remarks, obviously to probe if I was a Christian who'd stand up for himself. Both those individuals, incidentally, I now know to be homosexual, and one makes frequent political contributions to homosexual Democrat candidates.

Elsewhere in the University they'll freely ask you your views on methods to increase faculty diversity; that is an explicit University goal and therefore an entirely legitimate question. Of course, 'treat every applicant equally' is not a correct answer.

And then one third of our new hires in the last five years were made entirely on the basis of race or sex. How do you think those guys vote?

From your questions/remarks, you do seem to be pretty naive how a modern campus operates; things are far more political than they were even 30 years ago.

[goldstategop]

Its a situation rampant across the country. With public awareness things may begin to change. David Horowitz's campaign is a step in the right direction.

[fhardesian]

Absolutely, the colleges are a joke today.

[fhardesian]

If I had the money I'd sue them. What about that FIRE organization?

[goldstategop]

That's when the New Left started slowly taking over. They purged the old-line liberals, moved up into the sinecures themselves and are now grooming their would be successors. The American university ain't what it used to be.