Subscribe to the NetworkLiberal Professors Dominate
Church leaders and parents are often anxious about their children going off to college. And one of the most frequent concerns among them is the liberal nature of professors. The amount of “liberal” professors far outweighs that of conservative. In fact so much so that there have been studies on why this is the case.
One recent study done by the New York Times titled “Professor Is A Label That Leans To The Left,” asks why liberals seek to become academics, and why conservatives do not. They say its basically like any other profession that is overwhelmingly held by one gender, such as nursing (women), or one political outlook, such as law enforcement (conservative). They say the reputation of that particular field causes certain people to pursue it.
Makes sense to me. But most interesting, to me at least, is another study called, “Conservatives Just Aren’t Into Academe,” found that the lack of conservatives in the academic field wasn’t due to discrimination, but rather because conservatives weren’t choosing to go into the field.
Now, I’m not sure how they define liberal and conservative – whether that’s Democrat and Republican, Christian and non-Christian, Green or non-Green…no idea. Nevertheless, I think it’s interesting that this field is not pursued by conservatives more. You’d think it would be different…
Why do you think this is the case?
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I think the trend toward liberal profs is slowly changing, especially in certain academic fields. For example, I have a graduate degree in history, and try to keep up on the field. Guys like George Marsden and Mark Noll are evangelical historians who are recognized across the board as top in their profession. They have trained a whole cadre of historians who are now beginning to make their way into the halls of the academy and make a significant splash. Also, in philosophy, because of people like Alvin Plantinga, that field is now populated with many Christians churning out solid scholarship from a Christian worldview.
Furthermore, just from my own time as a grad student back in the day, and with my work on campus now as a college minister, there are quite a few Christian profs who are hesitant about expressing faith on campus. I believe they need some significant pastoral attention to help them live their faith in a sea of liberalism. We can both listen to them and their thoughts on living the Christian life in the academy, as well as walk alongside them and help them integrate their faith and their work. After all, reaching any campus isn’t just about students, but faculty as well.