Lefty Academics

[goaliedad]

Most American college professors are WAY too conservative for my taste, and would be seen as such by their international colleagues.

It depends upon which "international colleagues" you are referring to. Europe, yes. Middle and Far East, they are far more conservative than anything we have around here.

Where you stand depends on where you sit, is how the old saying goes. LOL

[jessiehl]

I'm not a troll, just frustrated. Maybe you would be too if you were in a conservative environment --I guess it's always hard to be in the minority.

I'm a liberal who grew up in very red states. Yes, it is always hard to be in the minority. It's a good experience to have.

...most liberals can't stand to consider a different point of view.

Gee, I wonder why they don't like you?

Students who don't support anything less than totally unrestricted access to abortion and same-sex marriage are unable to speak about their views at all.

Are you being prevented from speaking by the college? Harassed? Or are you simply frustrated that most people at your college don't agree with you?

People with no understanding of economics unthinkingly accept leftist economic thought.

Yes, because rightest economic thought has no unthinking proponents who lack understanding of economics. </sarcasm>

Also, the best colleges reputation wise tend to be the most uniform in their liberal views...

Have you been to all of them, that you know this, or are you going on stereotype and your own bad experiences?

If you or others are actually being harassed, threatened, having your rooms and property vandalized, etc, go to the police. If you're student group's posters are being torn down, complain to whoever is in charge of poster space. If you are being graded down solely on the basis of political belief, talk to a dean. If you are irritated because omg people don't agree with you, deal with it.

[curmudgeon]

I've discussed this on cc before (the true value of college).

I lived in an unofficial frat house (where all the parties were) during college. I was a GDI, through and through. No dues. No secret handshakes. Still got to go the parties. We always kept one of the big rooms pretty bare of furniture (just some cushions and odd chairs around the perimeter) . Many , many enjoyable nights - long into the night - were spent in that room arguing the issues of the day. Some nights I had allies , some nights I was by my lonesome on some issues, some nights I may have had a majority on my side at the start (but that would have been rare and only on a specific issue). We saw dawn plenty of times. It was wonderful.

[curmudgeon]

We had only two rules
1.) No guns.
2.) You couldn't leave the room mad (to get your gun from the console).


Worked real well for us, too.

[Duerre]

I know that there is a lot of political diversity throughout the U.S., but New England seems to be much more liberal than my region, at least in general. I would never disrespect any gay student, if for no other reason than that I know there would be consequences for doing so. My professors routinely find fault with western civilization, while glorifying Africa, the Middle East, etc and sugarcoating their histories and cultures. While the west has not been perfect, it isn't right to ignore the many great contributions it has made. Or the contributions of white men, rather than learning about how racist and sexist they were. One of my professors this semester is constantly bashing Evangelical Christian perspectives (there aren't many Evangelical Christians at my school). While I have no problem with free speech, if she did this to any other group (racial, sexual orientation, etc.) she would be severely reprimanded. It's a double standard.

[MidwestMom2Kids_]

10 characters

[curmudgeon]

You want advice? Cowboy up or transfer. That's really it. If it bothers you that badly, leave.

[Duerre]

It's probably my fault for choosing this college. I just wasn't very savvy about all this. The experience has been good overall, and I feel like I'm growing a lot as a person. It's just hard when you feel like you're the only one who thinks the way you do.

[owlice]

For those of you who might be hungry, I'm serving tiramisu in the Vigil Lounge.

cur, what is "GDI."

[curmudgeon]

cur, what is "GDI."

An old out of use acronym apparently. You can translate it as Unrepentant Independent and not be in violation of the TOS.

[curmudgeon]

Shy and overmatched or overwhelmed. Hmm. That's not good. I wasn't shy.

OP what about my suggestion to look for your fellow wrong-hea....I mean conservative kin? If you give me the name of the school I bet I can google up some likely hiding places. P.M. me. Remember, I'm a fellow 10%er.

For those who were like me on the other side of this equation

the fine arts departments
the film society
english journal or review
the creative writing bunch in general

and these departments always did well for me:
sociology, social psych
history
poli sci
IR (or as my D's school calls it IS)

I wouldn't have been looking in the Business School. (Of course my best friend got a BBA and would vote for Mussolini given the chance.)

[owlice]

Ah! Thanks, cur!

[cangel]

What's a "GDI"? A resident of Mallett Hall. Maybe it is a Southern thing Curmudge.

My D is a relatively conservative person at NE institution. She has run into one or two instances of profs, always, sadly women, who seemed to insist on their party line vs any other opinion. Usually in the realm of some event in history or change occurred because of the oppression of women, not economics or politics or the fact there was a bubonic plague. My D tends to be feisty in class, but I think she has had to modify her position in papers for grade reasons, rarely. These instances have been isolated, however - you are always going to find some people with prejudices, even those who think they have none. On the other hand, she has had more profs who are looking for other opinions, you can't have a discussion without opinions, and you can't learn to form an argument without practicing.

That's why I always liked science, not a lot of room for political opinion in acid-base reactions . Theoretical physics is another thing, though.

[Bay]

OP,

I don't doubt your assessment of the political environment there. I think you should consider transferring. There are some "moderate" colleges out there that don't go too far the other way (USC comes immediately to mind), and I think you'd be happier at one of them. I would.

[mini]

"

Quote:
Most American college professors are WAY too conservative for my taste, and would be seen as such by their international colleagues.
It depends upon which "international colleagues" you are referring to. Europe, yes. Middle and Far East, they are far more conservative than anything we have around here."

I have lectured in India and in Thailand, and was in school in Europe. I know professors in Africa. I'll stand by what I wrote.