University Faculties Greatly Lacking in Diversity
I was sitting with some friends in a bar and grill this past weekend just outside Charlotte. We were enjoying some of those muli-colored chips you often get as appetizers. Someone asked if the different colors tasted differently, to which I replied, no, they're a lot like most college faculties. A wide variety of colors, but they all taste the same.
At Duke University in Durham, up the road from Charlotte, some students complained that the faculty was made up almost entirely of liberals (a study found 142 registered Democrats on the faculty against only 8 Republicans). This lack of diversity of ideology seems like a reasonable complaint; after all, most colleges express a nearly fanatical commitment to diversity. A variety of views would invariably lead to a more rounded education for students. This seems like simple common sense.
Unfortunately, these concerns were met with ridicule. "We try to hire the best people available," said Robert Brandon, head of the Philosophy department. "If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire. Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia. Players in the NBA tend to be taller than average. There is a good reason for this. Members of academia tend to be a bit smarter than average. There is a good reason for this too."
Professor Brandon's slap in the face to conservative students and his handful of conservative colleagues is offensive, but not very surprising. Sadly, his view is shared by many of his academic colleagues throughout the nation.
Perhaps more surprising is Professor Brandon's lack of understanding of Nineteenth Century philosophy and politics. One would think that a philosophy professor like himself would understand the differences between Classical Liberalism (the philosophy of Mill) and Modern Liberalism (the philosophy of most professors). Classical liberalism espoused individual liberty and limited government; and generally opposed government intervention in the markets. Modern Liberalism has little support for any of these ideals.
The monolithic ideology of university faculties is well documented. Daniel Flynn has stated that there was more diversity in the Kremlin than on most college faculties. This would be funny were it not true. This one sided worldview wouldn't be so bad if certain faculty members and administrators were more tolerant of other views. Instead, they often try to silence them.
Mike Adams, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has catalogued the efforts to de-recognize the College Republicans (CRs) at his school. Why? The CRs refused to admit Democrats, Greens, Nazis, Fascists, and Communists as members. Apparently professors care about intellectual diversity among the CRs, but not among themselves.
Codes like these are not unique to UNC-Wilmington. They are often used to attempt to shut down student organizations, generally Christian groups that do not admit non-Christians or homosexuals as members. One recent example is a case at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit college in Spokane, Washington. Here the School of Law's Student Bar Association, with the support of the university's president, denied recognition to the Gonzaga Pro-Life Caucus, a Christian Pro-Life group, because it required its leaders to be Christians. Quite bizarre, considering how Gonzaga is itself a Christian school!
While many colleges have a problem with conservative or religious organizations, some have no problem with… well, more risque stuff. Harvard University now has a university-recognized magazine featuring photos of nude Harvard undergraduates. The University of Iowa has a bondage club. Apparently, these organizations vastly add to the pursuit of knowledge.
In fairness, there are some conservative colleges. These are mostly small, private Christian schools that make no bones about their curriculum. These colleges do not receive government funding, so they have the right to function as they chose. Every student who goes to these schools does so because they know the ideology of the school, and appreciate it.
However, the average high school senior is not likely to be aware of the one-sidedness of most public and private institutions, especially if they do not follow politics. Since conservative authors rarely make required reading lists, and since professors are usually liberal, they only get half the story. Does anyone think that it's possible to get a good education if you only hear half the story?
Universities should be dedicated to the disinterested pursuit of knowledge, not subsidiaries of the Democratic party. They should welcome all viewpoints, and be open to all ideas. Indeed, this was their original mission. Sadly, they have shifted away from this laudable goal towards promoting a worldview of extreme liberalism and anti-Americanism.
John Brown is a senior in political science and history at the University of Tennessee @ Knoxville. Contact him at johnnyb325@aol.com, or visit www.johnnorrisbrown.com. This column originally appeared in the February 26, 2004 edition of The Daily Beacon, available here.