Hi – My son is a political conservative who wants to major in history. A recent study showed that History Departments at universities are more heavily skewed to the left (over 30 to 1 Democrat vs Republican registration) than any other field of study.
We have done our research on politically “less liberal” colleges (the Washington & Lees, Claremont McKennas and Bucknells of the world), but often the political orientation of the professors varies by department rather than by college.
A complicating factor is that we’re Jewish, and my son wants to attend a college with some Jewish life on campus, which eliminates the Notre Dames and BYUs and even Hillsdale.
Again – my question is about the History Department, not the college. Anyone know? Anyone know of a conservative history faculty member who I could contact with this question? Thank you so much!
Check out Furman. There is a small but active Hillel on campus, and a reasonable Jewish population in town. It is dominantly Christian, but not into proselytization.
I understand you want to avoid Christian/Catholic colleges, but a friend’s daughter just graduated from Georgetown and both kid and parents were very pleased with education and experience. They are Jewish, observant, and their D felt very comfortable and included on campus.
My 2014 S was also interested in studying History/Political Science at a “balanced” college. We are not Jewish so that wasn’t a consideration, but he ended up at U Kentucky and found a good mix of thought in those departments.
Does he want to study modern U.S. political history? If not, this may be less of an issue than he expects. Students studying the rest of human history generally have no reason to know or care about their professors’ current political donations or registration. There are lots of philosophical differences among historians, of course, but disagreements among scholars of the Whig Party or Heian-period Japan or Simon Bolivar don’t track onto 2018 U.S. politics much.
Go to any big state U with a Hillel or just go here https://www.yu.edu and be done with it. If you are from NY, Binghamton might be a good choice with its heavy Jewish student population. Actually, even if if you are not from NY and have very high stats, they may scholarship him down to in-state tuition/fees which is pretty reasonable (~$10k)
Another thing you can do is take a look at schools in states with looser gun laws . Not all of those states fit, but there may be some good options in those areas with very pro 2nd amendment populations.
My state has a zillion hunters and pretty liberal carry laws but I can’t imagine you’d find anyone in the History departments of the flagship university, or even the directionals, who would be happy with either.
In the US, the Democrats are not “left,” fwiw–it would be hard to find a history department dominated by actual leftist views, although most departments should have a Marxist or two (it would be wrong not to–Marxist history is a major field).
I’m not sure I agree. The way historians approach material is shaped by their backgrounds and views (including, but not limited to, political opinions), and that’s going to come across in their teaching, whether they’re explicit about their political opinions or not.
The distribution of political leanings in history departments vary by subdiscipline, something to consider when comparing history departments. The vast majority of those working in gender history, for example - by far the fastest growing subdiscipline of history - are pretty liberal, and most gender history classes, regardless of whether they’re looking at women in Joseon Korea or eunuchs in the Byzantine empire, are going to have a left-leaning perspective. In subfields like military history, on the other hand, you encounter more conservative perspectives (e.g. Victor Davis Hanson).
@AndrewBander You may be interested in Choosing the Right College, the college guide published by ISI. As the title implies, the book examines colleges from a conservative perspective, looking especially closely at English and history departments. I’m not sure the newest edition has been adequately updated, though.
I nearly spit out my coffee when I read the title of your post because sadly, IMHO I just don’t think what you’re looking for is possible. Isn’t that sad? It’s a sad day in our county and our educational system that there is a personal/political/bend to one side or the other in academic departments.
My son reported the same thing at his high school. This is not what this country is supposed to be about. I remember learning and hearing about all sides respectfully. Those days are gone.
“The OP regards Hillsdale as undesirably religious.”
Interesting. I missed that when I quickly read his initial post. I’ve never considered Hillsdale religious.They have strong opinions about our form of government and give recognition to our Declaration of Independence that “We are endowed by our Creator” but I didn’t think they were overtly religious. Maybe I am wrong.
Actually my interpretation was indirect (and therefore perhaps inaccurate), @lvvcsf. The OP indicated an interest in “Jewish life on campus,” an aspect that would presumably not be vigorous at smaller colleges with a Christian affiliation.