The perception of a pervasive, liberal political bias in the halls of academia has become commonplace in recent years. While research suggests that professors’ political beliefs have no measurable effect on students, the perception of bias is no less real and may be affecting the credibility of higher education as a whole. Real or imagined, perception becomes reality for students and the public alike. The professoriate needs to take the perception of political bias seriously and make steps to change this perception for the better.

Eliminating the perception of political bias in academia must begin in the classroom. When discussing important, politically sensitive issues with their students instructors must, whenever possible, give up what Freire refers to as “banking education” but others call simply the “I pitch, you catch” approach. Such instruction stems from the view that students are empty vessels into which knowledge is poured. Students do not come to college as blank slates, however, and it seems likely this approach to teaching is responsible for many experiences students perceive as political bias on the part of the professor.

Such instruction also does not take into account individual student development. Individual students react to new information differently depending on their intellectual development. Identity development, how students perceive themselves, and cognitive development, how they process information, both play a role in how students react to new ideas. Well-developed students are often more willing and capable of exploring unfamiliar concepts. It seems likely that students at some developmental levels may perceive ideas from their professors that challenge the students’ own established beliefs as indoctrination, regardless of their professor’s actual reasons for introducing these ideas.

Experts make various recommendations for teaching concepts while also fostering student development. Many such recommendations focus on presenting ideas in a manner that allows them to explore the intricacies of those ideas as a class, with the instructor creating an atmosphere of communication that is not uni-directional. Given the proper data as well as the tools to do their own research and an open forum for discussion, students are able to both learn new concepts and grow cognitively. Such learning comes without the risk of these lessons being dismissed by the student as political indoctrination.

While there is an ideological imbalance in the professoriate and certainly cases where ideology plays an inappropriate role in the classroom, current research does not show that such abuse is widespread or has any effect on student populations. College should be a place where students and their beliefs are challenged, but not intimidated. To do the former without the perception of the latter, instructors must take into account student development. Doing so will help foster an environment of open-minded inquiry to the benefit of the students and the institution alike.

References
Kemmelmeier, M., Danielson, C., & Basten, J. (2005). What’s in a grade? Academic success and political orientation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 31, 1386-1399.

A special report: The Chronicle survey of public opinion on higher education (2004, May 7). The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(35), A12-13.

Mariani, M. D. & Hewitt, G. J. (2008). Indoctrination U.? Faculty ideology and changes in student political orientation. PS: Political Science and Politics, 41(4).

Darren L. Linvill, Ph.D., is the Basic Courses Director in the Department of Communication Studies at Clemson University.

The perception of bias has lead to legislation in 28 states since 2004, all aimed at promoting intellectual pluralism in higher education. The beliefs that have lead to such legislation are based in large part on the fact the professoriate in the United States is, without question, left leaning. Current peer-reviewed research places the proportion of liberal to conservative faculty at approximately three to one. Critics of academia are concerned this left leaning professoriate is working to indoctrinate students into holding liberal beliefs and that students who profess conservative values in the classroom are discriminated against by instructors.

Current research calls both of these concerns into question. Mariani and Hewitt (2008) utilized Higher Education Research Institute data to perform a longitudinal study exploring changes in students’ political ideology during their college years. An analysis of survey responses from 6,807 students at 38 colleges at the start of their freshman year in 1999 and then again at the end of their senior year in 2003 suggested participants tended to become more liberal during their college years, but at rates similar to the U.S. population of the same age range not attending college. Additionally, there was no evidence indicating that institutions with more liberal faculty fostered any additionally liberalism in their students. Furthermore, Kemmelmeier, Danielson and Basten (2005) explored student success as a function of ideology.

Two significant and related findings emerged from analysis of their data collected from a cohort of 5,534 students over four years at a major public university. First, in disciplines that tend to attract liberal students (e.g. sociology, American studies, and cultural anthropology) there was no relationship between students’ political views and the grades they received. Second, in disciplines that attract conservative students (e.g. economics and business), conservative students actually made higher grades than their more liberal peers, by a factor of 0.25 on a four-point grading scale. Such findings suggest that conservative students are not having their grades regularly penalized due to their beliefs.

Despite these research findings, the perception of political bias in the university classroom persists. It is not uncommon to turn on cable news and hear discussions condemning liberalism in the classroom and in textbooks. In 2004, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that more than half of those surveyed feel that U.S. colleges and universities introduce an improper liberal bias into the classroom. Websites such as http://www.noindoctrination.org/ contain hundreds of solicited, anecdotal reports from students of political bias in the classroom.

Though research does not support that political bias is having a measurable effect on students, the perception of such a bias is likely affecting higher education. Continued rhetorical attacks and accusations of bias cannot help but affect the credibility of the system, at least in the eyes of some. In a time of economic instability and decreased public funding for education, maintaining public support for higher education is essential and addressing the perception of political bias in higher education may aid in maintaining such support.

Editor’s Note: We will continue this topic on Wednesday with an article on steps faculty can take to eliminate the perception of political bias in the classroom.

References
Kemmelmeier, M., Danielson, C., & Basten, J. (2005). What’s in a grade? Academic success and political orientation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 31, 1386-1399.

A special report: The Chronicle survey of public opinion on higher education (2004, May 7). The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(35), A12-13.

Mariani, M. D. & Hewitt, G. J. (2008). Indoctrination U.? Faculty ideology and changes in student political orientation. PS: Political Science and Politics, 41(4).

Darren L. Linvill, Ph.D., is the Basic Courses Director in the Department of Communication Studies at Clemson University.