The Professors Who Are Left Are Left

Do you believe that university professors are overwhelming liberal? Well, there have been recent studies (here and here) to confirm that. Have you wondered why universities are reluctant to admit that this is a problem and why the trend continues? Well, below are excerpts from articles that present two sides of this issue--first from the left and then from the right. (Be sure to read the articles in their entirety.) Who's right?

From the left:

Proving the Critics’ Case
(via The Volokh Conspiracy with good comments)
By KC Johnson

Inside Higher Ed recently reported on four University of Pittsburgh professors critiquing the latest survey suggesting ideological one-sidedness in the academy. “Many conservatives,� the Pitt professors mused, “may deliberately choose not to seek employment at top-tier research universities because they object, on philosophical grounds, to one of the fundamental tenets undergirding such institutions: the scientific method.�

1. The cultural left is, simply, more intelligent than anyone else. As SUNY-Albany’s Ron McClamrock reasoned, “Lefties are overrepresented in academia because on average, we’re just f-ing smarter.�

2. A left-leaning tilt in the faculty is a pedagogical (d. befitting a teacher or education necessity), because professors must expose gender, racial, and class bias while promoting peace, “diversity� and “cultural competence.� According to Montclair State’s Grover Furr, “colleges and universities do not need a single additional ‘conservative’ .... What they do need, and would much benefit from, is more Marxists, radicals, leftists..."

3. A left-leaning professoriate is a structural necessity, because the liberal arts faculty must balance business school faculty and/or the general conservative political culture. ...

The intellectual diversity issue shows no signs of fading away. Ideological one-sidedness among the professoriate seems to be, if anything, expanding.

Now from the right:

Fear and loathing in faculty recruitment
Mike S. Adams

When I was hired as a professor, I didn’t have to worry about political or religious discrimination. That was because I was an atheist and a Democrat. ...Because the university Left freely admits to engaging in race and gender discrimination in hiring, I will not make race and gender the subject of this article. Instead, I will focus on two factors they deny using in the hiring and promotion process; religion and political affiliation.

I did manage to serve on a number of hiring committees.... I heard and recorded a number of instances of direct and indirect religious and political discrimination.

• the label “too religious� was attached to an applicant who had graduated from a religious institution
• the label “too conservative� was attached to an applicant who had written an article for a conservative publication
• the label “too much of a family man� was attached to an applicant who was married and had several children before the age of 30.
• a feminist objected to another female candidate after having dinner with the applicant and her husband. She specifically complained that the applicant’s husband played “too dominant a role in the marriage.� In other words, only women who are also feminists need to apply.
• a job candidate was asked the following question during an interview: “Who did you vote for in the 2000 election?�

The obvious political and religious discrimination at UNCW does not end with faculty recruitment. It is also extended to the tenure and promotion process. I once witnessed a non-feminist with a weak record labeled as “clueless� and in need of training in “impression management� by her angry feminist “colleagues.� But the story is different when a Leftist comes forward with a weak record. They are simply labeled as in need of “nurturing� by caring and concerned tenured Leftists.

A tenured UNCW English professor recently tried to convince me that the absence of a single Republican in their department of 31 full-time faculty members was just a coincidence.

Several questions come to mind:
Is there a liberal bias in hiring and tenure? It seems so.
What are the real causes for that?
Why aren't colleges doing more to promote a broader range of ideas?
What are the implications on the lives of students in one-sided academics?

One thing that wasn't mentioned is that liberals appear to create an extremely hostile work environment in colleges for conservatives. How can someone work at a place where you are attacked and your advancement blocked because of your political and religious views--which have nothing to do with your work?

And, here's my question: Are liberals really smarter than conservatives, as the left says? Does that make us liberal or make them wrong?