Colleges Have Lost Opposing Viewpoints

Here is a pitiful situation. The College Fix organization told us recently that Cornell University has no registered Republicans among the faculty in 11 of its academic departments. Not a single Republican. What about faculty donations to the politicians? About 96 percent went to Democrats.

In response, Cornell issued the following joke of a statement: “Political affiliation has no role in our faculty recruitment or promotion processes, and it never will.”

Of course, many universities are totally prejudiced against conservative and Republican academics — when they apply and when they try to achieve tenure. The evidence is too overwhelming to ignore.

Ask a conservative prof “Are you a conservative?”

He will close the door, shut down all computers, and pull the plug on phones. He will suggest you look behind the third maple tree in a park away from the campus at midnight. There, you will find a printed note in a capsule: “The answer to your question is yes. Now eat this note.”

Too many academics have had their clothes ruined. With Merlot “accidently slopped” down their fronts after they let slip they landed at Reagan. Or live on Nixon Drive.

My brother taught at a big state university. It had about 40 profs in its political science department. Any conservatives? “Better not be,” he told me. “Not in the open, if they know what’s good for their careers.”

This really is a pity. For the students, for the country, and for academics who don’t toe the party line. We’ve become like the old Soviet Union in this respect.

I know, I know. Surveys like the Cornell one don’t prove the profs teach in biased fashion. Just because they are Democrats doesn’t mean … Yes. I understand. But I don’t buy it. Too many students have complained. They tell us some profs indoctrinate instead of teach. They cite how they get punished if they write a paper with a conservative viewpoint.

The propagandists often give away their biases with the descriptions of the courses they teach.

Then there are the speech codes on many campuses, outlining the words and phrases students are never to utter. They also enforce safe zones for students who hear disgusting, pornographic, racist, homophobic threatening phrases, like “Hey, it’s a great day for a suntan!”

We see tons of evidence that many people at colleges and universities have lost something. They’ve lost something that once was prized at such schools — the spirit of learning.

They insist on diversity in religion, race, color, ethnicity, family status, and shoe size. But in social and political orientation? Forget about it. Not important at this school. Where we train students to think. Yeah, Groupthink.

Across town from Cornell is Ithaca College — where I set a record with five Fs in one semester a century ago. Not one prof leaned left or right in my classes. My history prof always gave us views of the left wing, right wing, left thigh, and breastbone. It is where I learned that Communist historians had a totally different view of the American Revolution than more popular historians.

Many profs taught this way. This style of teaching opened many a mind as thick as mine. Which I figure was the purpose of the school. Reports from campuses these days suggest there is a lot of closing of minds. And it is intentional.

A typical example sticks in my craw. Fifteen years ago I chatted with a prof at a big university. He was on a committee that selected speakers for big guest lectures every year on social issues. Lectures that thousands of students would attend.

I read through the list of celebrated guest lecturers. Judges, historians, economists, writers. They were all famous for their liberal views.

How come no conservative guest lecturers? That was my question. How innocent I was.

A sneer crept across his face. Disdain slithered from his eyes down his nose and dripped onto my shirt front. (Better that than Merlot.) “Never, never,” he intoned. “We would never have the likes of them come speak.”

Yes, one swallow does not a summer make. Nor two a hearty meal. But you get the idea.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial and other subjects from his home near Oneonta. Several upstate radio stations carry his daily commentary, Tom Morgan’s Money Talk. Contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com