Research from the Center for the Study of Partnership and Ideology suggests One in three Conservatives in Academia has been threatened with disciplinary action for expressing their beliefs.
The study shows conservative professors and graduate students are “guaranteed” to face discrimination in academia.
University of London politics professor Eric Kaufmann conducted the study. He says it is the first to focus on how academic authoritarianism threatens conservatives on campus.
To many, this does not come as a surprise.
Kaufmann analyzes eight surveys of graduate-level professors and doctoral students. The majority say they would not oppose discriminating against right-leaning peers. Of academics, 10% support outright canceling or firing conservative professors who express their views.
How do you investigate without bias when you decide the result before gathering data? How can you get a quality education in such an environment? Without tolerance, intellectual curiosity, and the free exchange of ideas how will the best result be reached?
Kaufmann told the Washington Free Beacon, “The discriminatory impact is huge… Even without “punishment mechanisms,” widespread opposition to conservative views leads to “powerful conformist pressures that make people keep their mouths shut.”
Kaufmann told the Free Beacon that the trend is likely to get worse. He says 20% of academics under 30 support “dismissing” peers they deem “controversial.” Of doctoral students, 30% say they would discriminate against grant bids from right-leaning researchers. They would also decline to promote a conservative peer. It is fair, that’s what the left has said for over 100 years.
Kaufmann observes such discrimination is not staying at universities. He says, “It’s become quite pervasive across the U.S., Britain, and Canada. There is now a certain level of discrimination on the basis of ideology and politics.” We call it blacklisting.
