Yes Universities tend to hire intelliegent people. George Will did forget a number of things in commenting with his intellectual and ideological blinders. First off many of the people who are attracted to academia may not be those attracted to business, which Will conveniently ignores has more conservatives.
Secondly, regarding the Horowitz article you previously presented. Funny you know he did not mention the group he heads up harrases those professors they happen to disagree with on an ideolgical basis. Nothing like little neo-cons using the same tactics that the prewar nazis used in Germany's universities before the second world war. Third who cares? How the hell does one's political stance affect the sciences and engineering? Enforcing an ideological litmus tests smacks of classic Stalinism, with is what George F. Will is advocating. I'll give you a hint, look up Lysenko, genetics and what happened in the 1930's to Russia when an ideology requirement overtook scientific research. Funny isn't enforcing an ideological requirement on scientific committees what the Shrubbery is doing? BTW another very respected group, the IAS, this time congressionally charted has come out warning the administration not to use ideology for committee membership. Finally I rather enjoyed many of the responses to Mr. Will's column from yesterday on this topic. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26820-2004Dec1.html >From the Post Academia and Free Choice Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A34 Regarding George F. Will's thesis that the leftward leanings in academia are the result of a "filtering" process to consciously or subconsciously admit only like-minded thinkers ["Academia, Stuck to the Left," op-ed, Nov. 28]: In the hard sciences and engineering, a professor's political views are rarely known to colleagues and are certainly not visible in his or her academic writings and research. So even if Mr. Will is correct in his insinuations, little to no bias should be found in the political leanings of professors in science departments. Alas, the Santa Clara University study that Mr. Will clearly referred to without specifically identifying found the same high proportion of "liberals" in all college departments. Now, as insidious as liberal bias may be, it is difficult to see how it could be applied so effectively to cases in which political views are unknown and irrelevant. Perhaps Mr. Will would do better to look at how far conservative thinking has moved away from reliance on scientific process, analysis and fact, as illustrated by the Bush admini- stration, which systematically disregards facts, studies and expert opinion. If academia is becoming more liberal, perhaps it is the free choice of individuals who feel the country would be better off with policy guided by science and study, rather than by faith and dogma. When conservatives discover the Enlightenment, perhaps more of them will find successful careers in academia. SEAN WILLETT Seattle The writer is an associate professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington. • I am not surprised that academia is overrun by liberals, but how about a similar study of 1,000 corporate executives? Aren't most corporate executives conservative? Aren't more conservatives interested in climbing the corporate ladder while "liberal" academics pursue a tenure track at colleges? I just finished a two-year Health Services Research program for physicians at Johns Hopkins University. Physicians apply to this program because they are interested in solving the problems of the health care system; many believe that the free market is not leading to quality health care for all Americans. I don't recall any poll of my colleagues in the program, but I'd bet most are liberal, even though there was no liberal "litmus test" to get in. Graduates of the program tend to go into academia. I wouldn't mind having more conservative colleagues in academia -- debate is essential to learning. However, before conservatives start rushing toward academia to fill the shortfall, I want to share something with them: The pay isn't that great. SALOMEH KEYHANI New York The writer is a member of the faculty at Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Department of Health Policy. • I wish George F. Will were as concerned about the shortage of women and people of color in tenured and tenure-track faculty positions at U.S. colleges as he is about a perceived shortage of Republicans in those positions. Is he proposing affirmative action for Republicans? Mr. Will singled out academia as a "one-party nation," but the one-party nation that concerns me is the one that our Republican-controlled executive and legislative branches are trying to establish in the United States by, for example, trying to abolish the filibuster, a venerable congressional check-and-balance mechanism. This seems infinitely more threatening than how a geology professor might have voted. LISA MINNICK Kalamazoo, Mich. 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