Comments on: Political Donations from Academia

By: Shannon

Shannon — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:41:17 +0000

Honestly, in a democratic republic it is so pitiful that the waning conservative party has lost its way. Its voices are becoming thinning whines that are useless in attempting to unify America. Of course the erudite are giving to the democratic party. There is no way intelligent people are going to sit idly by while the conservative party attempts to dupe the uneducated populous upon which they preyed last time. It certainly is time for change.

If we are fighting ideological wars both abroad and in our own country the end is near and frankly that depresses me.

By: Larry Bernstein

Larry Bernstein — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:18:14 +0000

I think Jay’s point about a lack of political balance deserves further inquiry. Given the general population is split between Democrats and Republicans, and based on my cursory review of the Pew Research 2005 study (http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=943), it appears that college educated individuals are probably more likely to be Republican than Democrat, then why is this particular subsample of educators so lopsided Democrat?

I have a feeling that Republican graduate students either (i) drop out of the academic community because they feel persecuted, (ii) join the business community who are friendlier to their ideological views, or (iii) attend technical, business, or legal graduate programs which by their nature are less ideological.

Needless to say if society has a desire to have ideological-free classrooms, we have clearly failed. In addition, during the tenure process, ideological positions are directly or indirectly considered, then we should expect this Democratic academic community to continue indefinitely.

By: Happy Saturday! (First Saturday in May, 2008) « blueollie

Happy Saturday! (First Saturday in May, 2008) « blueollie — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:45:32 +0000

[...] A fellow blogger points out that college professors give more to Democrats than to Republicans, (87% give to Democrats) and then points out that the college professor Democrats give more to Obama than to Clinton 74% to Obama). He also breaks it down by number of donors as well as dollar amounts. Here is Jay P Greene’s post. [...]

By: Big surprise - college professors like Democrats « Y-Decide 2008

Big surprise - college professors like Democrats « Y-Decide 2008 — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:35:36 +0000

[...] And surprise! It’s the Democrats! [...]

By: unastronaut.

unastronaut. — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:14:05 +0000

The problem being that academics shouldn’t be obligated to divide equally when they all feel correct on one side. Not to say they are or are not correct, but if you believe in freedom, the freedom of people to join a group of which you are not a part is also included.

You cite Christian colleges, which might be a good example of where the majority might be flipped. As for declaring their bias, anyone who cannot detect bias or adequately evaluate sources probably has stepped into the wrong arena.

I agree with ngilmour that parents paying for college hurts the actual product of the university system. I don’t know how many people I met at school who treated it as a 4-year party and their parents paid the cover charge. I don’t know that it directly affects these numbers, but it affects the quality and reputation of education.

By: Academics Love Obama : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee

Academics Love Obama : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:52:00 +0000

[...] Jay Greene points out that not only are political donations from academia going almost exclusively to Democrats those donors also show an almost uniform preference for the junior Senator from Illinois. [...]

By: ngilmour

ngilmour — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:21:50 +0000

Things will change when rich parents stop shelling out the tuition money. Until then, these little numbers games don’t mean a thing.