Jamie Weinstein
Intellectual diversity still matters!
By Jamie Weinstein
© 2006 Cornell Daily Sun
"Academia is simultaneously both the part of America that is most obsessed with diversity, and the least diverse part of the country. On the one hand, colleges bend over backwards to hire minority professors and recruit minority students, aided by an ever-burgeoning bureaucracy of 'diversity officers.' Yet, when it comes to politics, they are not just indifferent to diversity, they are downright allergic to it." The Economist 12/2/04
It is something telling to say that the faculty of the Cornell government department is as diverse politically as President Bush's cabinet. Sure, President Bush has one token Democrat in the cabinet (Norm Mineta), but all in all, its political philosophy is more or less somewhere to the right of center. Similarly, Cornell's government department has one token conservative (Prof. Jeremy Rabkin), but all in all, they are a pretty solidly liberal bunch, ranging from moderately liberal to nearly Marxist. The difference is, the President's cabinet is supposed to be filled with people who reflect the President's philosophy while university faculties are supposed to foster debate-though I sympathize with the argument that Prof. Rabkin counts as four professors.
So we enter the world of modern academia. Now, whenever I write an article about how university faculties across the nation are overwhelmingly from one political persuasion I get accused of whining. But I think a better word to describe it is observing.
I have been talking to students and faculty about this problem almost since I came to Cornell over three years ago. One retort that I almost inevitably get is that while it is true that most of the faculty in the humanities are to the left of center politically, there are plenty of conservative Democrats among them.
My gut reaction to this is to blurt out: "Where? I haven't seen too many Professor Joe Lieberman's around." But the proper response is, "So what?"
The fact is that I will likely have as many professors who identify as communists during my time at Cornell as I do those who identify as conservatives. Isn't this prima facie evidence that there is some type of problem? Or how about the studies that find 10 to 1 ratios of Democrats to Republicans amongst faculty? Doesn't this ruffle anyone's feathers?
And these 10 to 1 figures don't seem to be getting any better. Last year, UC-Santa Clara economics Professor Dan Klein came to Cornell and presented his study of professor political affiliations across 23 academic programs at UC-Berkley and Stanford. Among the most striking findings was that among the younger professors (assistant and associate professors) the registered Democrat to Republican ratio was over 30 to 1. Wowsers!
How could such statistics not make a person question what the Hades is going on? You might overlook the problem if the split were three Republicans for every seven Democrats. But 10 Democrats for every ONE Republican?
The question is why is this the case? I am not sure myself. My guess would be some type of subconscious bias against conservative applicants, or maybe even in some cases, an overt one. Or another possibility, a self-sifting out of conservative grad students because of the monolithically liberal domination of academia. Those are to my mind the best explanations to the current situation, but other ideas have been expressed.
Every once in a while you will get some enlightened genius who suggests that the reason this huge disparity between conservatives and liberals exists is because liberals are inherently smarter than conservatives. Conservatives, this Einstein might say, are dummies. This argument is only useful in boosting the confidence and the ego of the dummy that promulgates it. Other than that, you can pretty much toss it in the trash. (Most students can attest while we have some phenomenally brilliant liberal faculty on campus, we also have some that aren't so impressive.)
Others suggest that the reason there is a disparity is because conservatives care about making money while liberals are not so concerned with such pursuits. But tenured professors aren't roughing it. They have a pretty good deal. They get paid fairly well, have great job security, and they benefit from the three reasons, as the saying goes, that make teaching worthwhile: June, July and August. True, they are not raking it in like some CEOs, but professors aren't Mother Teresas either.
So what is the answer to this problem? Frankly, I don't know. There are plenty of conservative intellectuals in think tanks who would be easily qualified for a teaching post at America's top colleges. In fact, these think tanks produce much of the most original and practical ideas to America's problems. There is little doubt that many of these think tank intellectuals would add tremendously to the intellectual life of any campus.
The answer is not an affirmative action policy for conservative faculty, as some seem to claim conservatives are arguing for (though, mind you, an affirmative action program based on political ideology rather than race are two completely different things). But a proactive campaign to recruit conservative applicants when vacancies open up would be a good start.
If things have any chance of changing, it must be spearheaded by the administration. And this administration must have a leader who is willing to fight for a more intellectually diverse faculty.
Whether newly appointed Cornell President David J. Skorton will be this man is a question I cannot answer. There are some optimistic signs, however. In 2004, The Chronicle of Higher Education did a feature on the then President of the University of Iowa. Addressing a controversial incident that occurred on campus, Skorton told The Chronicle the following: "It's corny to call the campus a marketplace of ideas, but it has to be ?" Yes it does. And it is a travesty that it currently isn't.
Whatever happens, as of today the statement that opens The Economist article I opened this article with remains largely true: "If you loathe political debate, join the faculty of an American university."
© Jamie Weinstein
© 2006 Cornell Daily Sun
"Academia is simultaneously both the part of America that is most obsessed with diversity, and the least diverse part of the country. On the one hand, colleges bend over backwards to hire minority professors and recruit minority students, aided by an ever-burgeoning bureaucracy of 'diversity officers.' Yet, when it comes to politics, they are not just indifferent to diversity, they are downright allergic to it." The Economist 12/2/04
It is something telling to say that the faculty of the Cornell government department is as diverse politically as President Bush's cabinet. Sure, President Bush has one token Democrat in the cabinet (Norm Mineta), but all in all, its political philosophy is more or less somewhere to the right of center. Similarly, Cornell's government department has one token conservative (Prof. Jeremy Rabkin), but all in all, they are a pretty solidly liberal bunch, ranging from moderately liberal to nearly Marxist. The difference is, the President's cabinet is supposed to be filled with people who reflect the President's philosophy while university faculties are supposed to foster debate-though I sympathize with the argument that Prof. Rabkin counts as four professors.
So we enter the world of modern academia. Now, whenever I write an article about how university faculties across the nation are overwhelmingly from one political persuasion I get accused of whining. But I think a better word to describe it is observing.
I have been talking to students and faculty about this problem almost since I came to Cornell over three years ago. One retort that I almost inevitably get is that while it is true that most of the faculty in the humanities are to the left of center politically, there are plenty of conservative Democrats among them.
My gut reaction to this is to blurt out: "Where? I haven't seen too many Professor Joe Lieberman's around." But the proper response is, "So what?"
The fact is that I will likely have as many professors who identify as communists during my time at Cornell as I do those who identify as conservatives. Isn't this prima facie evidence that there is some type of problem? Or how about the studies that find 10 to 1 ratios of Democrats to Republicans amongst faculty? Doesn't this ruffle anyone's feathers?
And these 10 to 1 figures don't seem to be getting any better. Last year, UC-Santa Clara economics Professor Dan Klein came to Cornell and presented his study of professor political affiliations across 23 academic programs at UC-Berkley and Stanford. Among the most striking findings was that among the younger professors (assistant and associate professors) the registered Democrat to Republican ratio was over 30 to 1. Wowsers!
How could such statistics not make a person question what the Hades is going on? You might overlook the problem if the split were three Republicans for every seven Democrats. But 10 Democrats for every ONE Republican?
The question is why is this the case? I am not sure myself. My guess would be some type of subconscious bias against conservative applicants, or maybe even in some cases, an overt one. Or another possibility, a self-sifting out of conservative grad students because of the monolithically liberal domination of academia. Those are to my mind the best explanations to the current situation, but other ideas have been expressed.
Every once in a while you will get some enlightened genius who suggests that the reason this huge disparity between conservatives and liberals exists is because liberals are inherently smarter than conservatives. Conservatives, this Einstein might say, are dummies. This argument is only useful in boosting the confidence and the ego of the dummy that promulgates it. Other than that, you can pretty much toss it in the trash. (Most students can attest while we have some phenomenally brilliant liberal faculty on campus, we also have some that aren't so impressive.)
Others suggest that the reason there is a disparity is because conservatives care about making money while liberals are not so concerned with such pursuits. But tenured professors aren't roughing it. They have a pretty good deal. They get paid fairly well, have great job security, and they benefit from the three reasons, as the saying goes, that make teaching worthwhile: June, July and August. True, they are not raking it in like some CEOs, but professors aren't Mother Teresas either.
So what is the answer to this problem? Frankly, I don't know. There are plenty of conservative intellectuals in think tanks who would be easily qualified for a teaching post at America's top colleges. In fact, these think tanks produce much of the most original and practical ideas to America's problems. There is little doubt that many of these think tank intellectuals would add tremendously to the intellectual life of any campus.
The answer is not an affirmative action policy for conservative faculty, as some seem to claim conservatives are arguing for (though, mind you, an affirmative action program based on political ideology rather than race are two completely different things). But a proactive campaign to recruit conservative applicants when vacancies open up would be a good start.
If things have any chance of changing, it must be spearheaded by the administration. And this administration must have a leader who is willing to fight for a more intellectually diverse faculty.
Whether newly appointed Cornell President David J. Skorton will be this man is a question I cannot answer. There are some optimistic signs, however. In 2004, The Chronicle of Higher Education did a feature on the then President of the University of Iowa. Addressing a controversial incident that occurred on campus, Skorton told The Chronicle the following: "It's corny to call the campus a marketplace of ideas, but it has to be ?" Yes it does. And it is a travesty that it currently isn't.
Whatever happens, as of today the statement that opens The Economist article I opened this article with remains largely true: "If you loathe political debate, join the faculty of an American university."
© Jamie Weinstein
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