More liberal bias in academe

An article in Michigan Daily discusses the liberal bias at U Mich. One professor puts it quite succinctly (and arrogantly.)

John Campbell, a professor of political science with avowedly liberal views, said the liberal tilt in the social science faculty is only natural.

Those people attracted to teaching are usually those who are interested in current events, he said. And those who keep up with current events by reading the newspaper and watching the news are more likely than not going to be left-leaning, he added. "The liberal position just makes more sense."

Predictably, some students don't quite see it that way.

Prof. Campbell is right -- for a political science professor. After all, if what you want is more taxes to finance more spending for academics who produce almost nothing of value, then the liberal position -- "it's not your money, it's the government's money" -- makes more sense. If, on the other hand, you want to pay money only when you receive value, the conservative position makes more sense. Hence, conservatives value spending for productive academic disciplines -- sciences, architecture, business -- but find it ludicrous that poli sci profs get paid as well as engineers. Engineering and computer science, to name two examples, are disciplines that produces new quality product daily. Academic poli sci, on the other hand, stopped producing quality material more than two centuries ago.

So, Prof. Campbell is right that conservatism makes no sense for him -- just like the ice age made no sense to the dinosaurs.

I would disagree with the intemperate nature of this respondent's comments. I do think that some professors in the social sciences produce quality research. However, his point about their funding is correct. Social scientists don't tend to produce income as much as depend on the government for their income. This biases them toward a more centralized government with strong sources of funding for their research. (Via The Corner.)