David B. Shemano wrote:
I thought that Krugman's column was pretty weak.
I see that Paul Krugman has analyzed the problem and concluded that the reason
conservatives don't do well in academia (other than self-selection) is that
conservatives are creationists:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/opinion/05krugman.html?hp&oref=login. Yeah,
that must be the reason.
If you are a potential grad student who voted for George Bush, you are going to face a variety of professional and personal obstacles to career success. Although the evidence is anecdotal, I don't see how this can be disputed.
Of course, antidotes are particularly difficult to dispute. In my own
classes, will I lean over backwards to accommodate different ideas.
Couple years ago, my best student was an avowed white racist, but he was
very bright and very diligent. I gave him glowing recommendations. He
probably won't go far because he is poor and covered with tattoos, but
his politics won't hurt him.
To be clear, my complaint is not that there is a disparity in academia and isn't that unfair to potential conservative professors. My complaint is that academia suffers from the absence of conservatives. Speaking from experience (UCSB in the mid-1980s), I intentionally took an English class from a "critical theorist," sociology from Richard Applebaum (a socialist), a grad class on C. Wright Mills from Richard Flacks (legendary 60s radical), contemporary political theory from Cedric Robinson (a Marxist), post-industrial capitalism from a Left perspective, and others I cannot remember. I wanted to understand the "other side" and had the opportunity to learn from very smart people. However, if I was a Lefty and wanted to do the reverse, my options would have been very limited. There was one Straussian in the poli-sci department teaching theory, and the econ department was hardcore neclassical (students in econ 1 were required to watch Free to Choose videos). Perhaps there were others I was unaware of. But as a practicable matter, the only way the Lefty could have learned the "other side" was to go to a non-conservative professor and ask for reading recommendations, which is obviously not the same as having a real, live person as a teacher.
I was told by that particular economics department -- and this is the
truth -- that they thought I was too dangerous to be hired there. They
hired a friend of mine instead who was pretty conservative.
I just don't think it is good for the university where there are entire departments where not only did not a single person vote for George Bush, but no one in the department even knows anybody who voted for George Bush. It seems very insular and less than ideal for a university allegedly devoted to critical inquiry.
David Shemano
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901
