This may come as a bit of a traumatic shock to readers of the this blog, but it’s become known to the Houston Chronicle that the vast majority of political donations made by Texas’ college professors go to left-wing candidates. Texas faculty member’s candidate of choice for president? Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Faculty members have contributed $406,384 to Democratic candidates or committees in the 2008 campaign season — 71 percent of their political donations. Republicans have received $135,216, or 24 percent, of donations through the end of March. University personnel gave $27,915 to nonpartisan political action committees or third party candidates.
The professors’ top pick was Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. She received $129,721 in contributions, ahead of fellow Democrat Barack Obama with $104,911. Republican nominee-presumptive John McCain lagged far behind, in third place with $25,130 in college contributions.
The professors favored Democratic organizations, such as the Democratic National Committee, over Republican groups by more than a 3-to-1 margin.
Shocker. Some profs are willing to go on the record with their beliefs, which is admirable, almost:
…many professors are quick to admit that their profession leans to the left politically.
"Like most law professors, I call myself a Yellow Dog Democrat," said Mark Gergen of the University of Texas at Austin. "I think I voted for two Republicans in my life, and that’s talking about every possible (office)."
Others see a profound disconnect between the values taught and exemplified by instructors at our state’s universities.
"These people are as far away from middle America and its values as Amarillo is from Islamabad," said conservative strategist Keith Appell. "In many cases, today’s professors were yesteryear’s anti-American protesters — some of them violent, as in the case of Senator Obama’s association with (former Weather Underground bomber) Bill Ayers, who is a college professor in Illinois."
Methinks Appell doth protest too much. Yet there’s more than a grain of truth at the center of this pearl of a study. Universities that spend considerable effort at attempting to make their student bodies reflect the demographic makeup of American society would be well-advised to consider doing much more with their faculty to ensure the same degree of ideological fairness is present among instructors.
Perhaps a little more vetting would keep professors like Ayers and Priya Venkatesan from ruining young minds.