I know I'm not going to get a lot of pity from folks a bit more to the left, but there's an interesting situation on my campus that I find troubling. Of all the student organizations here at the law school, there are four that I would classify as right-leaning: the College Republicans and the Federalist Society on the political side, and the Christian Lawyers and J. Reuben Clark Law Society (Mormon Lawyers) on the at least facially apolitical or moral side.
The school's student organization governing body technically requires that any student organization have a faculty sponsor. Here's the interesting situation: not a single faculty member is willing to support any of those four organizations. Anecdotally, what few faculty members I know to have a rightward lean are unwilling to publicly present themselves as such for fear of peer ostracizing.
That about blew me away.
To a certain point, I'm willing to just cope with the fact that leftish viewpoints will largely dominate the personal persuasions of faculty members at most universities. It only allows faculty members who make objectivity and political neutrality in the name of open ideas that much more worthy of respect. But as more and more academic institutions and private enterprises make diversity a mission and a cause to be won, I'm not sure that this fits the bill. And when a university's career development center offers internship credit for volunteering as a pollwatcher for a specific party (I'll let you all guess which one) with no mention of the other, I'm concerned.
Isn't a university obligated to provide a friendly environment for people of any political persuasion? How far do we need to go to ensure that this happens?
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Ha, supposedly, high schools were supposed to be that way too... but guess which political party received approval for a Young [insert party name] club years before the other was approved? ...yeah.
I'm not really familiar with how the presidents of school clubs interface with the more general student government, but there has to be something right? Seems like that might be a good forum for the club president of the clubs you mentioned to speak up and let his/her voice be heard on this issue. If there are no Mormon faculty, then the student gov't or the faculty may never have thought to have a non-Mormon faculty member advise the Mormon club...just a thought there.
More generally, though, I think there just needs to be a logical pitch made to those in power. If they persist in their ways after such a message is presented, then I'm not sure what would persuade them. But to think of mandating some kind of Fairness Doctrine for clubs and such, that just gets so sticky and cumbersome.
Chris, doesn't it strike you as interesting that the more schooling people get, the further left they lean? There is also a striking correlation between political leanings of a state and their GSP (gross state product). I won't draw the graph but I'm sure you can visualize it. Think your home state vs. Mississipi. :P
Seriously, the lack of ideological diversity at your school is lame. But as the rattlesnake said to the indian after he had bitten him, "you knew what I was when you picked me up."
Man, your opening sentence in this post proved prescient, eh?
I so appreciate you proving my point all around, Sam. The old adage "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach," comes to mind.
Again, purely anecdotally, I'm not at all surprised that most of the students you see prominent in the liberal student organizations don't have families or jobs while in school and so have the time and inclination to get way involved in student organizations, while most conservatives I know have family lives and jobs. Despite the adage, I make no statement about the capacity to do either, but only call what I see.
Well said. You're right about the left-leaning in universities. Almost every educated individual is going to have political preferences that may (and usually does) seep into the classroom. I don't fault them for that. However, as educators I feel they have the moral and social duty to support, rather than inhibit, the expression of all ideologies. Such conduct demonstrates a human respect beyond politics, and would directly elevate the tone of political dialog. So while the professor may have espoused a particular ideology, or even proselytized it, they should at the least welcome and encourage a respectful dialog from skeptics.
I actually appreciated the few conservative professors I had. My international political economy professor so strongly argued the basic virtues of capitalism that I opened up to fiscal conservatism, which led to openness to conservative principles in general. And now I find myself regularly reading Wall Street Journal editorials and The Economist.
Anyway, a diversity of opinion, and a respectful open forum for skeptical discussion, are the basic ingredients for generating better and better ideas. Professors like the ones you referenced need to recognize this and should proudly nurture these ingredients. This will only enhance society's ability to progress.
Btw, looks like you guys had fun at the BYU game. I just gotta say that personally, I prefer my blue with a touch of gold. ;-) Take care.
Zing! Love it, Chris. So what you are saying is that the individual who can balance both family, jobs and liberal ideologies are the best of all. ;)
One of the most hypocritical ironies of political discourse is that while liberals purport to promote diversity and tolerance they are almost universally intolerant of any conservative views, and look down their noses at anything resembling such views. The inherent snobbery, intolerance, and hypocrisy of this ideology disgusts me.
As always Chris, well said.
I find it interesting that your experience it was the conservatives with families and jobs. In my experience it was the opposite, at least in terms of jobs. As for families, it was more broken down by age -- those in their late 20s and early 30s had families, and those of us who went straight from undergrad to law school didn't, which is a pattern I am also following.
I don't know if it's just the law school I went to or the people I chose to hang around with, but my fellow law students were pretty evenly divided between liberal (me and a few others), moderates, and conservatives. In fact, it makes me truly miss law school, because it was a rare opportunities to have a constant discussion with all sides for three years.
And PS, fears of peer ostracizing? In my opinion, those professors need to stand up for what they believe in. As a holder of sometimes extremely unpopular beliefs, I don't have much sympathy for (especially TENURED) professors who can't take a little bit of heat from their peers.
On the first day of class, my old Constitutional History professor said there were two kinds of historians, unbiased and honest. He believed, and I tend to agree, that it's very difficult if not impossible to prevent your political leanings from influencing your presentation in the classroom. Those who don't admit their leanings do themselves and their students or audience a disservice. (I think this is also true in the world of sports as well as politics.)
The professor then proceeded to tell us how as an undergrad he donated $1 to the Goldwater campaign and inadvertently joined the Republican party (much to the disgust of his father), and that he had been a Republican ever since, finding himself right about where Reagan was within the spectrum.
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