No balance in academia

No real surprise in the research that Jay Greene reveals in his post today but it needs to be said out loud and over and over. Academia is NOT a representation of America. It's likely a representation of what they'd LIKE America to be... but America isn't there yet. So, in this political season Greene looks at the presidential contributions provided by academia and discovers their contributions to the right are few and far between.

But I do find these results troubling in two ways. First, if universities are going to lack balance in the perspectives that are represented on campus, they should be open and honest to prospective students and donors about that imbalance. Like Christian colleges, they should declare their focus and priorities up front rather than pretending that they are inclusive of all views.

I agree. Higher education consumers could use something more than slick brochures of a pretty campus. Knowing what sort of frame the instructors are going to put around their lessons are more important. If you doubt they're inclusive of all views...see Ben Stein's "Expelled-No Intelligence Allowed". We can't even talk about the subject of origins or problems with the theory let alone get fair representation regarding how to deal with the issues of the day. You want to emulate the '60's student radicalism? You'll have to join the student conservative (that's right wing, republican, pro-free market, pro-life) group. Academia created the radical student movement and they're finding themselves playing the role of the administration this time 'round.