The Volokh Conspiracy - Study on "Indoctrination" by College Professors:

Inside Higher Ed (via Instapundit):

One of the key arguments made by David Horowitz and his supporters in recent years is that a left-wing orientation among faculty members results in a lack of curricular balance, which in turn leads to students being indoctrinated rather than educated. The argument is probably made most directly in a film much plugged by Horowitz: Indoctrinate U."

A study that will appear soon in the journal PS: Political Science & Politics accepts the first part of the critique of academe and says that it's true that the professoriate leans left. But the study — notably by one Republican professor and one Democratic professor — finds no evidence of indoctrination. Despite students being educated by liberal professors, their politics change only marginally in their undergraduate years, and that deflates the idea that cadres of tenured radicals are somehow corrupting America's youth — or scaring them into adopting new political views.

A comment on the IHE article provides the obvious objection:

Am I the only one who sees a problem with the way the data was collected, as self-assessment, rather than measured against some objective criteria? If a student grew up in a conservative household, but were a bit more liberal than their parents, they may rate themselves as moderate or slightly liberal when they enter college. After spending 4 years exposed to predominately liberal professors, their views may have moved significantly to the left, but their frame of reference has also shifted to the left, so they perceive themselves still being moderate or only slightly liberal.

I certainly knew some students at Brandeis who started as moderates, but thought of themselves as conservatives by the time they graduated, even though their views had shifted at least somewhat leftward, because they were in fact moderates relative to the population as whole, but conservative relative to Brandeis faculty and student politics. In other words, the study proves nothing (or, more precisely, doesn't provide persuasive evidence).

UPDATE: There were also some students who were driven to the right by some of what they encountered in politicized departments like Sociology and English. True story, recounted to me by a classmate and friend:

English T.A.: "Was anyone in this class disturbed, as I was, by the absence of women characters in this book?" Student, frustrated by weeks of this sort of thing: "What do you expect, it's a book [Moby Dick] about whaling! There were no female whalers!"

	[David Bernstein, March 27, 2008 at 10:18pm] Trackbacks Study on "Indoctrination" by College Professors: Inside Higher Ed (via Instapundit): One of the key arguments made by David Horowitz and his supporters in recent years is that a left-wing orientation among faculty members results in a lack of curricular balance, which in turn leads to students being indoctrinated rather than educated. The argument is probably made most directly in a film much plugged by Horowitz: Indoctrinate U." A study that will appear soon in the journal PS: Political Science & Politics accepts the first part of the critique of academe and says that it's true that the professoriate leans left. But the study — notably by one Republican professor and one Democratic professor — finds no evidence of indoctrination. Despite students being educated by liberal professors, their politics change only marginally in their undergraduate years, and that deflates the idea that cadres of tenured radicals are somehow corrupting America's youth — or scaring them into adopting new political views. A comment on the IHE article provides the obvious objection: Am I the only one who sees a problem with the way the data was collected, as self-assessment, rather than measured against some objective criteria? If a student grew up in a conservative household, but were a bit more liberal than their parents, they may rate themselves as moderate or slightly liberal when they enter college. After spending 4 years exposed to predominately liberal professors, their views may have moved significantly to the left, but their frame of reference has also shifted to the left, so they perceive themselves still being moderate or only slightly liberal. I certainly knew some students at Brandeis who started as moderates, but thought of themselves as conservatives by the time they graduated, even though their views had shifted at least somewhat leftward, because they were in fact moderates relative to the population as whole, but conservative relative to Brandeis faculty and student politics. In other words, the study proves nothing (or, more precisely, doesn't provide persuasive evidence). UPDATE: There were also some students who were driven to the right by some of what they encountered in politicized departments like Sociology and English. True story, recounted to me by a classmate and friend: English T.A.: "Was anyone in this class disturbed, as I was, by the absence of women characters in this book?" Student, frustrated by weeks of this sort of thing: "What do you expect, it's a book [Moby Dick] about whaling! There were no female whalers!"