Lovell

[Jables1604]

IBTL

[GGGG]

Not just Texas thing. Also a Marquette, Michigan and Utah thing in my experience. I'd be curious how WaPo gathered that data. I would imagine most categorize themselves as moderate...but they're view of moderate may not be the same.

Liberal professors outnumbering conservative ones is no surprise. Those with higher levels of education have always leaned to the left.

And I'm not exactly sure why it matters.  I don't recall many political discussions in my classes at MU - outside Poly Sci.  But even those weren't partisan.  The idea that just because professors are liberal, therefore they indoctrinate their students in liberal thinking, doesn't really hold up.

[rocket surgeon]

  George Bernard Shaw- those who can't do...

[mu03eng]

I'm curious as to why professors tend to lean left.

[rocket surgeon]

I'm curious as to why professors tend to lean left.

     ^^^^^^^^^^^

[GGGG]

I'm curious as to why professors tend to lean left.

I think it depends on the discipline.

Business professors don't lean left.  Many STEM professors don't either.  It's more in the humanities and social sciences.  My guess is that it's because a lot of the "emerging research" in those areas is considered more liberal.  (Women's and Gender Studies, etc.)

[rocket surgeon]

   "...what an 80 year old dentist from Burlington thinks". Who said he thinks MU is Berkeley?  I said he thinks MU has lost its way, in so many words. 

  My dad ain't from Burlington - the Burlington dental society is a region which covers all of walworth and some of Racine county

  I think I'm figuring you out though sully- you're the Chico's of your people, that's if anyone is foolish enough to admit to being one of your peeps

Follow the money?  Who do you think is paying the tuition?  Hint- un$ecured loan$

To jesmu- what is different at MU today as opposed to 40-50 years ago?  You could have a reasonable and civil conversation about philosophical and political differences. 

[brewcity77]

I'm curious as to why professors tend to lean left.

Educated people in general tend to lean left. The left does better with the more highly educated across all demographics.

[jesmu84]

To jesmu- what is different at MU today as opposed to 40-50 years ago?  You could have a reasonable and civil conversation about philosophical and political differences.

Again. What is specifically different at MU?

[GGGG]

  Follow the money?  Who do you think is paying the tuition?  Hint- un$ecured loan$

What does that have to do with campuses supposedly being more liberal? 

[GGGG]

   "...what an 80 year old dentist from Burlington thinks". Who said he thinks MU is Berkeley?  I said he thinks MU has lost its way, in so many words. 

If your dad has meant its changed from when he was in school, well no kidding.  Look around.  The world has changed.  I know some people find that scary, but institutions need to adapt.

[dgies9156]

And I'm not exactly sure why it matters.  I don't recall many political discussions in my classes at MU - outside Poly Sci.  But even those weren't partisan.  The idea that just because professors are liberal, therefore they indoctrinate their students in liberal thinking, doesn't really hold up.

Candidly, my only concern about political tilt on campus is the whole issue of "safe speech." That we can't talk about certain things certain ways because someone might be offended.

It has been a long, long time since I was on campus but when I was (back in the 1970s), one of the most interesting and compelling debates was when a student challenged Catholic Social Justice teaching in the letters to the editor of the Marquette Tribune. His language was extreme and, to many folks, offensive, but it forcced a debate among the student body on our role in the Westtown community (which was far more problematic than it is today), whether social justice teachings were reasonable and whether we were enabling the receipients of our actions.

I won't argue that there were many people, students, professors and administrators, who wondered why the Tribune published these letters (there were either two or three from the original writer and several dozen reaction letters). But that's what college is supposed to be about. And, the debate was a forerunner of debates the Reagan Administration and George W. Bush Administration.

[GGGG]

I think the squelching of debate because of "safe space" issues is extremely exaggerated in scope.

[4everwarriors]

Educated people in general tend to lean left. The left does better with the more highly educated across all demographics.

Really? No point, then, in having any sort of meaningful discourse if that's firmly planted in your mind. The rest of us are obviously too stupid to understand the left's point of view. Maybe I should brush up on my Marxist/Leninist history since its inevitable, hey?

[brewcity77]

Really? No point, then, in having any sort of meaningful discourse if that's firmly planted in your mind. The rest of us are obvious is too stupid to understand the lefts point of view. Maybe I should brush up on my Marxist/Leninist history since its inevitable, hey?

Statistically, college educated voters are more likely to vote left than non-college educated voters. That's not really new news or something that's hotly contested.

If you assume that most college professors have at the minimum a bachelor's degree, it makes sense they would follow that trend of people with higher education being more likely to lean left than people without. This isn't a political point, it's just how the numbers bear out.

If you want to get into the reasons for that, then it becomes more political, but as to the simple stats, it's pretty straightforward.

[GGGG]

Statistically, college educated voters are more likely to vote left than non-college educated voters. That's not really new news or something that's hotly contested.

If you assume that most college professors have at the minimum a bachelor's degree, it makes sense they would follow that trend of people with higher education being more likely to lean left than people without. This isn't a political point, it's just how the numbers bear out.

If you want to get into the reasons for that, then it becomes more political, but as to the simple stats, it's pretty straightforward.

And that's been a reverse of just a decade or so ago.  Those with bachelor's degrees used to vote more Republican than Democrat, but that REALLY changed in 2016.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/

[TSmith34, Inc.]

  To jesmu- what is different at MU today as opposed to 40-50 years ago?  You could have a reasonable and civil conversation about philosophical and political differences.

Well, what are they?  What are you pining for from 50 years ago?

[jsglow]

I am genuinely impressed with the transformation of the total campus environment. Marquette actually has a coherent campus.

I will say that I was surprised by The Al. It is much smaller from the outside than I anticipated. For some reason I pictured a much larger venue.

On the negative side, I am shaking my head over the absolute obliteration of the MU drinking infrastructure. The Wells Street Watering Hole, from 11th to 17th, has been erased from history.

Jim Hegarty's is now an empty lot. The Lanche and The Gym gave way to Burger King and Papa John's.

Hallowed Ground. Consecrated Earth. Precious Soil. Defiled.

Brother, you need to come back to campus more than once every 30 years!

[#UnleashSean]

I think the squelching of debate because of "safe space" issues is extremely exaggerated in scope.

As someone who was recently in college. It's not. It's a real thing, maybe not completely systematic but it exists.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

As someone who was recently in college. It's not. It's a real thing, maybe not completely systematic but it exists.

As someone who has worked at four different universities over the last 11 years it is definitely overstated.

[GGGG]

As someone who has worked at four different universities over the last 11 years it is definitely overstated.

Yep. 

[rocket surgeon]

As someone who has worked at four different universities over the last 11 years it is definitely overstated.

I don't know, Matt seems to be on the front lines tamu.  What is overstated?  With the exception of a very few news outlets, it doesn't seem to be stated at all.  So I find it difficult to be "overstated" because that would seem to mean any statement of it is exaggerated to the point that, nothing to see here, move along is the theme. Yet, whenever a personality who differs from the "conventional wisdom" of the group think of universities tries to hold an event, it doesn't look very safe to me causing me to just avoid the area altogether.  Which is what I believe the goal is...winning, eyn'a?

[GGGG]

I don't know, Matt seems to be on the front lines tamu. 

On the front lines?  Cause he graduated from MU a couple years ago?

TAMU and I *work* everyday in higher education.  We've both been at multiple institutions.  If that's not "front lines," I don't know what is.

[jesmu84]

Again. What is specifically different at MU?

Bump

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I don't know, Matt seems to be on the front lines tamu.  What is overstated?  With the exception of a very few news outlets, it doesn't seem to be stated at all.  So I find it difficult to be "overstated" because that would seem to mean any statement of it is exaggerated to the point that, nothing to see here, move along is the theme. Yet, whenever a personality who differs from the "conventional wisdom" of the group think of universities tries to hold an event, it doesn't look very safe to me causing me to just avoid the area altogether.  Which is what I believe the goal is...winning, eyn'a?

Because literally hundreds of events that "differ from conventional wisdom"  happen without incident on college campuses across the country every day. Events like Milos in Berkeley make up less than 1% of these events but demand 99.9% of the attention. Also, it's usually the students using their free speech to respond,  not the University stopping an event.