Saturday, May 09, 2026

Faculty Bias

I am pleased that Heterodox Academy is having a go at this. Conservatives make angry claims, while liberals say it's all bosh, but HxA attempts to be disciplined about it: How politically diverse are university faculty? The short version is that faculties do skew liberal pretty reliably, more so in some subjects than others - and you will accurately predict which those are, most of you. However, there are more moderates and apoliticals than is usually reported, and studies showing the greatest divergence are more likely to be underpowered and have the worst percentage of faculty response. 

The standard response of "But we are professionals and know how to teach both sides" is not addressed here, but we know the human nature answer already: That is true for some people but others are falsely claiming objectivity because of self-deception or dissembling. That discussion has to follow from the basic data, however, not anticipate it. 

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