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Liberal Bias at Universities
An interesting article that I think holds a lot of truth, esp. at my university in DC. BlankThe Washington Times www.washtimes.com Poll confirms Ivy League liberal tilt Robert Stacy McCain THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 1/15/2002 More than 80 percent of Ivy League professors who voted in 2000 picked Democrat Al Gore and just 9 percent voted for Republican George W. Bush, according to a new survey. The poll by Luntz Research Companies also found that only 3 percent of the professors describe themselves as Republicans and that Bill Clinton was the Ivy League faculty's pick for best president of the past 40 years. "All that this survey shows is what we already know, that the elite universities are subsidiaries of the Democratic Party and political left," said David Horowitz, president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, which commissioned the poll. Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster whose firm conducted the survey, said he was "disappointed" to find such political conformity. "I think if parents saw the political leanings of these professors, they'd be upset," he said. "I think universities should insist on the same diversity in their faculty that they look for in their students . I have a problem when these faculties have no Republican or conservative representation at all." The poll * available on the Web at www.frontpagemagazine.com * not only surveyed the professors' general views, but also asked their opinions on specific issues, and compared those responses with nationwide poll results. "Issue by issue, the faculty is so out of touch with the American people," Mr. Luntz said. The poll of 151 professors and administrators in social science and liberal arts faculties at Ivy League universities had a margin of error of plus or minus 8 percent. The survey found: While Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush each had 48 percent of the popular vote in the last presidential election, 84 percent of the professors who voted in 2000 picked Mr. Gore * more than nine times as many as voted for Mr. Bush. Asked to name the best president of the past 40 years, the professors named Mr. Clinton as their top choice, at 26 percent. Overall, 71 percent of the professors named a Democrat as their pick for best president, compared with just 8 percent who named a Republican. Asked their party affiliation, 3 percent of the faculty said they were Republicans and 57 percent said they were Democrats * a strong contrast to a recent nationwide survey showing slightly more Americans consider themselves Republicans (37 percent) than Democrats (34 percent). Forty percent of the professors support slavery reparations for blacks, compared with 11 percent of the general public. Ivy League faculty strongly oppose (74 percent to 14 percent) a national missile-defense system, while the American public favors such a system by 70 percent to 26 percent. The professors oppose school vouchers 67 percent to 26 percent, while Americans support vouchers 62 percent to 36 percent. Mary A. Burgan, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors, questioned the poll's methodology. "I really worry about a poll like this. That's got to be a very small sample," said Miss Burgan, formerly an English professor at Indiana University. Only 12 percent of the survey's respondents were professors of business or economics, who she said tend to be more conservative. "The humanities, from my own experience, tend to be more left than right of center, but I think that most of them are somewhere near the center," she said. But Mr. Horowitz, a former radical turned conservative activist, said the poll shows "that our universities are less intellectually free than they were even in the McCarthy era, when I was an Ivy League undergraduate myself." "Students are being shortchanged," said Dan Flynn of Accuracy in Academia, a conservative watchdog organization. "They pay $30,000 a year for an education, but are exposed to only a small range of political and cultural opinion." Thor Halvorssen, executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said the poll shows that while universities "are enamored of the notion of diversity they really don't believe in the most important diversity, which is diversity of opinion." Copyright * 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved |
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Re: Liberal Bias at Universities
I don't think the poll gets at the real issue. There is no question that universities are left wing, but simple liberal v. conservative polling questions don't tell the story I don't think. Before giving you my views on a lot of crap in higher education, you might want to take a look at some of Ayn Rand's non-fiction stuff concerning problems in education. There are various collections of her articles. I think you will see her predicting a lot of the current problems you see. This was 30-40 years ago. Don't be scared away by negative preconceptions of her philosophy and see what she has to say about higher education. The most disturbing thing in the poll was how highly Clinton was rated. Not even liberals can think this guy was a good president. What did he do? This leads me to wonder about professors' basic competence. Oh wait, I've been wondering about that since I went to college. Also, the quote about diversity by the conservative guy was stupid. Not to sound like Sklansky, but can you see why? |
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Re: Liberal Bias at Universities
So what's your point? Did you think Universities would be havens for capitalists and corporate raiders? I'm not going to get into a pissing contest, but there is a lot of misinformation in this article. Since you are a student, maybe you should research some of the claims. |
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Re: Liberal Bias at Universities
One would expect university professors to vote Democratic. People who are intelligent, highly educated and well-read, and who don't have a vested interest in Republican policies that line their pocketbooks would tend to vote Democratic. As for Clinton being voted the best President in the past 40 years, look at the competition: Kennedy: made Clinton's character look akin to that of Ghandi Johnson: made Clinton's character look akin to that of Ghandi Nixon: made Clinton's character look akin to that on Ghandi Ford: played too many football games without his helmet Carter: 18% interest rates, killer aquatic rabbits, a national malaise and brother Billy Reagan: Sorry, but he was dumb before he was sick. Bush Sr.: Read his lips Anyway, the Washington Times and David Horowitz are hardly paragons of unbiased news. They are definitely right wing. Horowitz is a particularly ugly case. As for the stupid quote from the conservative guy (is there any other kind?), I'll leave it for others to explain. |
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Re: hey ...vanderbilt...
should be a haven for robber barons...go commodores...lol..gl |
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Re: Liberal Bias at Universities
"Carter: 18% interest rates, killer aquatic rabbits, a national malaise and brother Billy " Not to mention sister Ruth hanging out with Larry Flynt. Weren't the 70's marvelous? |
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Re: Liberal Bias at Universities
Yeah, I had forgotten about Ruth and Mr. Flynt. Now it's just we poker players who cavort with Mr. Flynt. I note in his ad in Card Player that his casino is spreading a $2000-$4000 hold 'em game. Many years ago I saw him in a $400-$800 7-card stud game when I was staying at the Dunes. I arrived mid-afternon Friday and he was playing. Saturday morning he was still in the game. Sunday morning he was still in the game. The floorman told me he had not slept and was stuck over $200,000. |
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The truth
In fact, we Liberals are suckers and gullible. We believe in th ehuman spirit more so than $$$. We err on th eside of humainty and are offen fooled. We are mentally weak, in a sense, but we prefer that to being cold, money grubbing selfish CEO's (Enron....any questions?) |
#9
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Name change:Vanderbilt Possoms not Commodores
because they play dead at home and always grt killed on the road. |
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Re: Andy Fox\'s Rankings
This may stir it up. Another moderate post. From 1960-2000, best president is - Reagan in a landslide. Won the Cold War on his watch, in part due to his excellent military policies. Not many adversaries as bad as the Soviet empire have ever existed, and the ones who could compete for the title didn't have nukes. Reformed the tax code, which was a big first step away from socialism. Deficits ran high, but this was because wasteful social programs were continued by the Democrat congress when we were increasing necessary military spending. The groundwork for our balanced budgets and the '94 Republican victory (something about unimaginable 20 years before) was laid by Reagan. If we ever get to a reasonable tax rate instead of the awful 40% we have now, we can thank Reagan. Stupid or not he was a great President and will be so regarded eventually by historians. I can't argue much on the others. Kennedy was horrible. Nobody who thinks Bush bought the White House should look at the 1960 election. Reckless in the White House. A miracle his immaturity didn't lead to nuclear war. Give him lack of character points for sleeping with commie spies instead of interns. Johnson. I think you liked his Vietnam policy right Andy? Just kidding. Nixon. I have a campaign button I might wear some day. But he's hard to defend even though his Vietnam policy was way better than Johnson's. Ford. Blank. George Sr, cratered after the Gulf War. Ran perhaps the worst campaign ever. Carter. Dorky sweater, limp foreign policy. Let the military rot. Clinton. All character defects. No accomplishments. Horrible China policy. (W may continue it though) Did let Bin Laden go when Sudan said they'd turn him over. Good call there. And hey, there are plenty of good conservative quotes. Just the other day I heard Ashcroft say...:-) |
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