Liberal US academics keep their politics to themselves

9 May2013 | By MatthewReisz (URL=/matthew-reisz/1022.bio)

Researchreveals conservative fears of left-winginfluence are unfounded
A sociologist has warnedof real dangers for the future of American higher educationin the widespread conservative perceptionthat universities are not just full of
liberals, but promoting a liberal agenda.
Neil Gross, professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia, first became interested in the way that politics and academic life are interlacedin 2005
when he was workingat Harvard University at the time that Lawrence Summers, then president, stirred up intense controversy for reportedlysuggesting that men
outperformed womenin science because of biological differences.
I remember walking into a facultymeeting past throngs of reporters,he tells Times Higher Education, and thinking it fairly remarkable that the outside world could
be so interested in what, on some takes, were just academic matters.
Equallystriking was the campaign byconservative activist David Horowitz foran academic bill of rights designed, in his view, to protect students from
indoctrination.
These two episodes were among the main spurs that led Professor Gross to embark on the researchleading to his newbook, Why Are Professors Liberal and Why
Do Conservatives Care? Although he concedes in the text that conservatives are basically correctin claiming that US universities are a bastion of liberalismin the
sense that academics are overwhelminglyDemocrat, there are also manyfewer radicals in the academic ranks than some conservatives charge.
In investigating why the academyis left-leaning, Professor Gross made use of what is knownas an audit study, sendingout fake emails to directors of graduate
studies frompotential students that mentionedthat theyhad workedon either the Obama or McCain 2008 presidential election campaigns.
Although the deception caused considerable irritation when it was revealed, the results showedlittle signs of bias and instead, he writes, offer reasonablystrong
evidence that most social scientists and humanists in leading departments work hard to keep their political feelings and opinions frominterfering with their evaluation
of academic personnel.
Far more plausible, in Professor Gross view, is the notion that specific historical factors encouragedthe academyto tilt to the Left and that this has become self-
perpetuating, with fewconservatives applying for jobs in what theyfear will not be a congenial environment.
But if there is little reason to believe in the academys left-wingbias, why has this idea become such a staple of conservative rhetoric?
In reality, as Professor Gross book makes clear, only one strand of US conservatismtakes this line. While some right-wingers claimto believe that leading
universities are nowrun byliberal terrorists, far more are queueing up to send their childrento them.
Criticismof the liberal professoriat emerged as a repeated line of attack,explains Professor Gross, because of its important rhetorical purpose of finding an elite to
criticise.
Although the majorityof academics are on the Left,he says, most are also professionals and dont try to browbeat their students with their politics, aiming simply to
do good researchand teach their field. I think we in American higher education could do a better job of conveyingthat to the public, reaffirming the professionalismof
the professoriat at a time of budget stress.
Neil Gross Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care? is published by Harvard University Press.
matthew.reisz@tsleducation.com