<p>Finally, a comment about the supposed “liberalness” of higher ed faculty. This received a lot of press last fall from one side of the political spectrum.</p>
<p>Newmassdad,</p>
<p>I liked your posts, so dont take this as a criticism of your views, since to the degree that I find myself in the same situation as emswim, I take them to heart.</p>
<p>However, as regards the liberalness of higher ed faculty, I had the opportunity to hear Dartmouths President Wright speak to this issue just prior to the election of the Board of Trustees at Dartmouth in which the two maverick (conservative) candidates (unendorsed by those attached at the hip to the administration) actually won the only two open seats, against all odds.
<a href=“http://www.dartreview.com/archives/2005/06/12/the_lone_pine_revolution.php[/url]”>http://www.dartreview.com/archives/2005/06/12/the_lone_pine_revolution.php</a></p>
<p>In the Presidents remarks, which came across as an apology for the liberal direction Dartmouth has been bending for, he mentioned an article in the NYT by, of all people, Paul Krugman. In it, according to President Wright, Krugman wondered why we would find it peculiar to find Professors and administrators at universities to be substantially more liberal than Americans as a whole when we have its opposite effect in conservatives being over-represented in business and finance; that is, in business we have something of a conservative hegemony and in universities a liberal hegemony.</p>
<p>Upon hearing this rational appraisal I thought, well, of course. But within the context of the overall apology I was suspicious. It seemed overly defensive. So I thought harder and realized that we, as a society, are somewhat suspicious of the conservatives in business and wouldnt it be logical to be somewhat suspicious of the liberal excess and self-indulgences in academia? </p>
<p>Further, we, as a society, react to the obvious conservative nature of business administration (suspected greed and self-indulgence) and even regulate its excesses (on occasion). Ive even heard that business schools are putting a greater emphasis on ethics in both their applicants and course requirements (at Wharton for instance).</p>
<p>So why would academia be immune to this natural criticism. Are those in academia so enlightened as to see beyond their excesses by the force of their own moral fiber with a sense of the good, of balance and of caution, without the gadflies within American societysuch as they areremarking upon it and perhaps even hoping and attempting to remedy the excesses of such instincts, much as we make such attempts when it involves conservative excesses in business and financeeven half-hearted attempts?</p>
<p>As a rule, it seems there is no need to offer hierarchical inducements to get people my age to think or behave liberally I think.</p>