Why Hiring Professors With Conservative Views Could Backfire on Conservatives

public hermit · Tuesday at 9:16 AM

BCP1928 said:
My poly sci professor always maintained that the real opposite of Liberal was not Conservative but Ideologue.

I've never thought if it that way, but that's right. Thanks for sharing that. I'll be using it.

d taylor · Tuesday at 10:44 AM

BCP1928 said:
What? How many college art classes have you taken?

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Why does that matter.

Larniavc · Tuesday at 11:33 AM

public hermit said:
That's a good counter-example. Isn't that common in sociology? I have never met a conservative sociologist lol, but they might exist.

Yeah, it's practically a cliché. Still he got me an A at A level Sociology so I'm fine with that.

Hans Blaster · Tuesday at 12:42 PM

d taylor said:
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When i was in college back in the 80's i had no idea what the teachers political beliefs were.

same in the 90s.

d taylor · Tuesday at 12:52 PM

iluvatar5150 said:
The concerns here are mostly not about undergraduate lectures. It's largely about graduate/doctoral level programs and the writings produced by those professors.

Also, if you think art classes can't get political.... lol buddy.

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I never said art classes can not get political, anything can become political, just look at this forum.

But if a teacher is teaching a class on subject, there is no need to interject personal political beliefs into a subject

BCP1928 · Tuesday at 4:58 PM

d taylor said:
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Why does that matter.

You don't seem to know what goes on in them or how the students' beliefs would be threatened.

d taylor · Tuesday at 5:04 PM

BCP1928 said:
You don't seem to know what goes on in them or how the students' beliefs would be threatened.

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I was an art major in college back in the 80's and have made my living with art for 30 plus years.

BCP1928 · Tuesday at 5:05 PM

d taylor said:
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I never said art classes can not get political, anything can become political, just look at this forum.

But if a teacher is teaching a class on subject, there is no need to interject personal political beliefs into a subject

Is the teacher supposed to keep them a secret? Are students not supposed to be exposed to people with different political beliefs than their own? At least we know now that it's political beliefs that you are worried about.

BCP1928 · Tuesday at 5:06 PM

d taylor said:
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I was an art major in college back in the 80's and have made my living with art for 30 plus years.

So how did the political beliefs of your teachers affect your art studies? I'm not trying to trick you, just to understand you. When I went to college I took courses in things like poly sci, philosophy, etc. from teachers whose political beliefs were very different from my own and who were sometimes quite vocal about it. Some of my existing beliefs changed, some were strengthened and altogether I found it an improving experience. How does that work in an art class?

Hentenza · Tuesday at 5:13 PM

Sif said:
I remember one of my favorite class in college was overtly political. It was American Political Thought. As students we often would engage the professor on various topics. We could never figure out of he was Liberal, Moderate, or Conservative. One day we asked him and he told us it didn't matter. He then drew us into a discussion on illegal immigration. He made excellent points for the "conservative" side of the argument the proceeded to make excellent points for the "liberal" side. He said we each needed to form our own views based on the best information available and to understand an issue from all sides. I've always tried to do that. I would say I am mostly successful given that many Liberals say I am a Conservative and many Conservative say I am a Liberal.

It was years after the class I discovered that the professor was a member of the Democratic Party in my state when I happened to see him at a fundraising event. I spoke with him and he said his intention in the class was to teach us to engage our minds. One of the best books from the class I still own, Closing of The American Mind by Allan Bloom.

That’s how I remember it. I graduated in 1984 first time around and once again in 2014. There was a bit more political talk my second time around but not as pervasive as it is now.

d taylor · Tuesday at 5:26 PM

BCP1928 said:
So how did the political beliefs of your teachers affect your art studies? I'm not trying to trick you, just to understand you. When I went to college I took courses in things like poly sci, philosophy, etc. from teachers whose political beliefs were very different from my own and who were sometimes quite vocal about it. Some of my existing beliefs changed, some were strengthened and altogether I found it an improving experience. How does that work in an art class?

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If you will read my post #3 you will know.

BCP1928 · Tuesday at 5:44 PM

d taylor said:
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When i was in college back in the 80's i had no idea what the teachers political beliefs were.

When I was in college back in the early sixties their were plenty of political beliefs being aired on all sides, more than today, I expect. I still don't see what the problem is.

d taylor · Tuesday at 6:00 PM

BCP1928 said:
When I was in college back in the early sixties their were plenty of political beliefs being aired on all sides, more than today, I expect. I still don't see what the problem is.

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Well i am in Mississippi and kids just did not engage in politics back in the 80"s. There might have been some that were studying to be lawyers that did, but i general most kids did not.

Richard T · Tuesday at 6:24 PM

public hermit said:
Is hiring more conservative professors and admitting more conservative students a solution to liberal bias in American higher education?

Many people think so. The Trump administration, in threatening to cut Harvard’s federal funding, demanded that the university foster greater “viewpoint diversity,” including by recruiting faculty members and students who would restore ideological balance to campus.

But a policy of hiring professors and admitting students because they have conservative views would actually endanger the open-minded intellectual environment that proponents of viewpoint diversity say they want. By creating incentives for professors and students to have and maintain certain political positions, such a policy would discourage curiosity and reward narrowness of thought.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/opinion/viewpoint-diversity-conservatives-college.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VU8.2mRP.GDFxGd3Jorw0&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Would a deliberate effort to hire professors with conservatives views backfire or create balance? The example of Robert Nozick is given in the article as an someone who had an obvious Libertarian view but was hired for intellectual rigor and not his politics. Is that a good example?

ETA: The author concedes that there is liberal bias in US universities.

I admit I was skeptical of South Dakota's law to try and insure that conservatives were represented as faculty in their colleges. Turns out it was pretty successful. Basically if your department had 5 liberals, the next hire needed to be a conservative. This legislative attempt was to help reach a balance. Here is one article on it. When Legislatures Become the Ally of Academic Freedom: The First State Intellectual Diversity Statute and Its Effect on Academic Freedom - South Carolina Law Review

public hermit · Tuesday at 7:02 PM

Richard T said:
I admit I was skeptical of South Dakota's law to try and insure that conservatives were represented as faculty in their colleges. Turns out it was pretty successful. Basically if your department had 5 liberals, the next hire needed to be a conservative. This legislative attempt was to help reach a balance. Here is one article on it. When Legislatures Become the Ally of Academic Freedom: The First State Intellectual Diversity Statute and Its Effect on Academic Freedom - South Carolina Law Review

Is it that some universities decided to hire more with conservative viewpoints, but it wasn't specifically mandated by the law? That would be better, I think, than it being mandated.

I think a general concern is that conservatives, who have often critiqued diversity efforts (specifically in hiring), are now accepting the same for themselves. What makes their situation different?

BCP1928 · Tuesday at 7:45 PM

The other issues is, how do you tell a conservative professor from a liberal professor?

linux.poet · Wednesday at 6:04 PM

Larniavc said:
It wouldn’t maintain a balance. But that would not be it backfiring. That would be as intended.

It’s like what happened in The Handmaids Tale.

Just remember I’m an Aunt.

The truth is that, when given information about anything, the human brain will make its own decisions about what to do with that information, regardless of the affective context in which the information is presented. The brain makes choices to its own advantage by default. This is why the D.A.R.E. program and sex education failed. Most adolescents make choices on what earns them acceptance in their peer group, so the adolescents who went through those programs just used the information from those programs to better achieve their objective, with disastrous results.

So there is no “backfiring”. Political information is political information, and students will make their own decisions about what to do with that information regardless of how it is presented. More young people are liberals by default, so that skews the data. One can graduate from a liberal university, but if they go work in construction, they will quickly figure out that it is in their best interest to vote Republican, and they will, actually, vote that way.

And yes, I know, I’m an English major and we waste a ton of time editing presentations of information. But that’s all pretty art that doesn’t really influence decision making. People make decisions based on what is in their best interest and the interest of the people they love and care about. If you lie or skew the presentation of the information, that doesn’t work to fool people anymore. This is the golden age of the internet expose, and you’ll get found out, shamed, “canceled”, lawsuited, and lose all your money.

keith99 · Wednesday at 6:24 PM

BCP1928 said:
The other issues is, how do you tell a conservative professor from a liberal professor?

Well, when your Econ Prof had actually worked on The Hill and was near the economic advisors for the Republican party it is a pretty good bet he was not liberal by any sane definition.

But undergrad I had a biology prof who I considered conservative who had been blacklisted in the McCarthy era.

BCP1928 · Thursday at 6:52 AM

keith99 said:
Well, when your Econ Prof had actually worked on The Hill and was near the economic advisors for the Republican party it is a pretty good bet he was not liberal by any sane definition.

My econ prof? You must be thinking about somebody else. I didn't take an econ course until I was at grad school at a state university. He was quite conservative in the old fashioned way--Adam Smith's economics, not Milton Friedman's.

keith99 said:
But undergrad I had a biology prof who I considered conservative who had been blacklisted in the McCarthy era.

I think there are two issues in play here, free speech for sure, but also content. Our present crop of university professors are becoming reactionary ideologues and think they need to take up a defensive position. What they are afraid of is the Hillsdale College brand of conservativism, which has no real place in an institution devoted to intellectually integrity. But the best way to deal with it is not by suppression; the "marketplace of ideas" will make short work of it. Even if it is being imposed by law,

I'm more concerned about the public schools where it is being imposed on children who may not have developed sufficient critical thinking skills to deal with it.

Is Oklahoma Really Going to Interrogate Teachers From “Woke” States?

Yes, Ryan Walters is a right-wing troll. No, you can’t afford to ignore him.

slate.com

Hans Blaster · Thursday at 9:47 AM

BCP1928 said:
My econ prof? You must be thinking about somebody else. I didn't take an econ course until I was at grad school at a state university. He was quite conservative in the old fashioned way--Adam Smith's economics, not Milton Friedman's.

I think @keith99 was using the third person for himself when referring to his econ prof. "When my econ prof" somehow doesn't sound grammatical.

Why Hiring Professors With Conservative Views Could Backfire on Conservatives

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