Academia & Ideological Bias: It’s More Complicated than You Think

Many right-of-center students (especially those who are grade-obsessed) self-censor, fearing that their professors will punish them for their political and cultural views if they were to express them in class discussions or assignments.

It’s easy to understand why they are concerned. The dearth of ideological diversity in the professoriate is significant; in social-research fields, the left-to-right ratio is roughly 10:1. Professors rarely assign readings by conservative or libertarian intellectuals, let alone engage with such thinkers in a charitable way. Faculty regularly make off-topic jabs at Trump or the Republicans, or even end up digressing into full-on rants. Professors who are moderate and charitable in the classroom may post highly political content on social media (or occasionally write highly political opinion pieces or blog posts) expressing antipathy toward Republicans and conservatives. And all of this is amplified, and often distorted, by an outrage-driven media industry.

MA

About the Author

Musa al-Gharbi

Musa al-Gharbi is a Paul F. Lazarsfeld Fellow in Sociology at Columbia University and a senior fellow at Heterodox Academy.

Many right-of-center students (especially those who are grade-obsessed) self-censor, fearing that their professors will punish them for their political and cultural views if they were to express them in class discussions or assignments.

It’s easy to understand why they are concerned. The dearth of ideological diversity in the professoriate is significant; in social-research fields, the left-to-right ratio is roughly 10:1. Professors rarely assign readings by conservative or libertarian intellectuals, let alone engage with such thinkers in a charitable way. Faculty regularly make off-topic jabs at Trump or the Republicans, or even end up digressing into full-on rants. Professors who are moderate and charitable in the classroom may post highly political content on social media (or occasionally write highly political opinion pieces or blog posts) expressing antipathy toward Republicans and conservatives. And all of this is amplified, and often distorted, by an outrage-driven media industry.