More Intellectual Diversity in Kremlin Than on U.S. Campuses, Author Says
by Jim Brown
September 24, 2004
(AgapePress) - A conservative author and speaker says political donations by public university employees indicate just how widespread liberal bias in academia has become.According to a study conducted by the student newspaper at Princeton University, more than 90 percent of political donations from employees at the Ivy League school have gone to liberal causes during this election cycle. The Daily Princetonian reports that Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry has received more than $40,000 from Princeton employees, while President Bush has received a single donation of $258.
That finding is consistent with recent Federal Election Commission reports on giving to presidential candidates. Dan Flynn, the author of Why the Left Hate America and a frequent speaker on college campuses, says one need only look at those reports to gauge the political leanings of university faculty.
"Amongst employees of Harvard University, 97 percent of all the donations went to John Kerry; three percent went to George W. Bush," Flynn says, adding that at William and Mary, the second oldest university in the country, "100 percent of all of the donations went to John Kerry's campaign."
Those proportions astonish Flynn. "The Kremlin had more intellectual diversity than that," he says.
Flynn, who is executive director of the Campus Leadership Program, offers another example of an underlying disdain for conservatism on America's college campuses. Promoters of his appearance at Gonzaga University in Washington state last year wanted to promote the event using the title of his book. That raised some eyebrows on campus.
"[T]hey were told that it was somehow 'hate speech' to print out the words 'Why the Left Hates America' [on promotional material]," he explains. "They got harassed by administrators and other students. Thankfully the event was held and common sense prevailed."
While admitting it is rather silly that university officials would even consider charging the College Republicans with hate speech simply for using the title of a conservative book, the author says it is par for the course on many college campuses today.
Flynn's upcoming book is likely to further ruffle the feathers of liberal academia. The title? Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas.
