Student survey proof of 'systemic bias in academia'
ByPublished September 24, 2020 at 11:41am
Harvard University
Prominent liberal law professor and commentator Jonathan Turley says a new survey of incoming Harvard students confirms what can only be "systemic bias in academia."
"The impact of this bias is devastating for higher education. Faculty members are using their majority on faculties to exclude potential colleagues with opposing views, the very type of bias once used against not just liberals but minorities seeking entry to faculties," he wrote on his website.
"The result is that we are creating a bifurcated educational system where conservatives can only gain entry to top schools by [hiding] their political views or espousing liberal positions," said Turley a professor of law at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
He cited a survey by the Harvard Crimson newspaper of this fall's incoming class that found members have a "clear favorite" in the November election.
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Democratic nominee Joe Biden has the support of 90.1% of the class of 2024, compared to 7.1% for President Trump.
Also, 60.9% favor defunding political departments.
The report said that of 1,420 students in the class of 2024, 1,083 responded.
The Crimson wrote: "Sixty days out from the 2020 U.S. presidential election, 88.9 percent of first years said they hold an unfavorable opinion of President Donald J. Trump, compared to 56 percent of voters nationwide. Trump's dismal approval rate among surveyed students mirrors a shift in the political leaning of the freshman class more broadly. Nearly three-fourths of freshmen — 72.4 percent — identified as somewhat or very liberal, a marked increase from 64.6 percent in the class of 2023."
The report said "a fraction of students who did not identify as liberal decreased from previous years, with 20.3 percent indicating they are moderate, 6 percent indicating they are somewhat conservative, and 1.4 percent indicating they are very conservative."
It found that female freshmen were more likely than male freshmen to lean left.
"Eighty-three percent of surveyed females identified as somewhat or very liberal, compared to just 60.1 percent of male respondents."
It further said the percentage of those who identify as Republican dropped from 10.5% a year ago to 5.2% this year. Those calling themselves Democrat rose to 57.4%.
"Freshmen overwhelmingly supported recent national protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Nearly 88% expressed a somewhat or strongly favorable opinion on the protests, though 69.4% said they did not personally attend protests this summer," the report said.
In addition, those who admitted seeking mental health counseling rose to 26.3%, up several points from the year before.
Turley noted the "rising intolerance for conservative, libertarian, and Republican students and faculty on campuses across the country."
"Faculties rarely hire conservative or libertarian professors; journals rarely published studies from conservative authors. As the number of conservative faculty members diminish or disappear on faculties, schools appear to be carrying out the same bias in student admissions," he warned.
"Over 40% of this country view Trump favorably and the vast majority view themselves as holding either conservative or moderate views. It is demonstrably absurd to argue that this virtual absence of conservative students is somehow the result of accident and not design," he said.
Faculty members for a long time "pretended that there was not an ideological bias in faculty selection as the number of conservative and libertarian faculty members dropped to near zero on many faculties," he said. "The bias is evident on every level.
"Now we are seeing the same downward trend in admissions where conservative or libertarian students are being relegated to lower ranked schools. This bias has also become evident, not surprisingly, in classrooms. A Yale poll found that 70% of students said that they experienced political bias and the same poll said that the students only believe 1% of their faculty were conservative.
"It is a mockery to pretend that this is the result of anything other than systemic bias in academia," he said.
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