Mark Bauerlein, “a professor of English at Emory University and director of research at the National Endowment for the Arts,” has a long essay on liberal dominance of the universities.
Elsewhere I have suggested a thought experiment. Imagine that law faculties were 80% Republican and leaning Republican and 10% Democrats and Democratic leaners. Would Democratic professors think it not worth doing something serious about? One senses in the extreme responses to the Republican victories in the 2004 election that Democratic law professors might be quite disturbed if Republicans were in the overwhelming control of their own workplaces.
Burlein’s conclusion in the Chronicle is interesting:
Those reasons are, in brief: One, a wider spectrum of opinion accords with the claims of diversity. Two, facing real antagonists strengthens one’s own position. Three, to earn a public role in American society, professors must engage the full range of public opinion.
Finally, to create a livelier climate on the campus, professors must end the routine setups that pass for dialogue. Panels on issues like Iraq, racism, imperialism, and terrorism that stack the dais provide lots of passion, but little excitement. Syllabi that include the same roster of voices make learning ever more desultory. Add a few rightists, and the debate picks up. Perhaps that is the most persuasive internal case for infusing conservatism into academic discourse and activities. Without genuine dissent in the classroom and the committee room, academic life is simply boring.
Bauerlein:
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