The University has a long-standing reputation of being a conservative Southern school located in the heart of Virginia -- a state that continually votes Republican in presidential elections. Yet the academic world in general continues to consist of faculty members who are much more likely to consider themselves "liberals" or "Democrats" rather than "conservatives" or "Republicans." So what happens when these two situations collide at the University?
"Related to other universities, the University of Virginia is quite conservative, but that doesn't mean it's a conservative institution or that liberals don't dominate," Politics Prof. Lynn Sanders said. "It is simply true that academics right now are liberal and [the majority are] Democrats."
Politics Prof. Steven Rhoads said he believes the student body at the University is fairly evenly divided when it comes to politics, but among the faculty, the atmosphere does tend to be more liberal. He also said, however, he feels that compared to other schools, there is more of a conservative view represented in disciplines like politics and sociology, making the University a little more balanced.
The concept of having a balanced representation of views on college campuses has prompted lawmakers in some states to propose "academic bill of rights" legislation. States such as Maine, California, Ohio and North Carolina all have proposals for such a bill, which would affect their public colleges and universities.
Some supporters said they think the bill is needed to ensure that students feel free to voice their own opinions and are exposed to many different views, not just those of their professors with strong political leanings.
According to the Academic Bill of Rights proposed by Republican Sen. Andrew Brock to the North Carolina General Assembly, "Faculty and instructors shall be free to pursue and discuss their own findings and perspectives in presenting their views, but they shall make their students aware of serious scholarly viewpoints other than their own through classroom discussion or dissemination of written materials, and they shall encourage intellectual honesty, civil debate and the critical analysis of ideas in the pursuit of knowledge and truth."
Still, other groups feel such a bill is unnecessary because policies already are in place to protect freedom of speech. Opponents of the bill also contend that students are mature and independent enough not to have their own beliefs altered by the expressed opinions of a professor.
"I've not surveyed my colleagues in the History department, but anecdotal evidence convinces me that they fall across the full spectrum of political opinion," University History Prof. and NAACP Chair Julian Bond said. "I know of no one who feels free speech needs extra protections at U.Va."
The Commonwealth currently does not have any proposals for similar legislation to create an academic bill of rights.
Another provision in various states' versions of the academic bills states that faculty members should be hired, fired, and advanced in their careers solely based on their abilities and not their political views. Such a provision is designed to address the question of whether any sort of ideologically-based discrimination exists in faculty advancement, causing the large gap between liberals and conservatives.
Results of a study called "Politics and Professional Advancement Among College Faculty" performed by the Forum, an online political science journal, could not substantiate the theory that ideology is the cause for differences in professional standing.
Rhoads said he believes the gap between the number of liberal and conservative faculty members has to do with the natural tendencies of the two groups.
"If you are comfortable with capitalism, you are more likely to be a businessman or woman, but if you're skeptical of it, you're more likely to be an academic and criticize it," Rhoads said.
An article co-authored by Anthropology Prof. Richard Handler addressed the particular issue of political diversity in anthropology departments, where some claim there are 30 Democrats for every one Republican.
"The affinity of anthropology for left-progressive analyses has neither been produced, nor is it maintained, by a partisan exclusion of either Republicans or conservatives," Handler wrote. "The affinity is deeper, and it is an outcome of anthropology's relationship to a major tension in Western social philosophy."
Sanders said she has not seen any evidence of avoiding conservatives in the faculty searches she has taken part in. On the contrary, she said she believes they go out of their way to recruit them and that most departments would be open to having more conservative faculty members.
Rhoads said he does not feel conservative professors at the University face any additional obstacles due to their political stance.
"I think among the faculty there is a live and let live spirit," Rhoads said. "As a faculty member, you can do what you want in your course, so there is no one putting pressure on conservative faculty to have things they don't want there. So the only question is whether there is enough representation, not how conservatives are treated."
Read More
Spanberger asks U.Va. Board of Visitors to delay appointment of new president
By Cecilia Mould and Ford McCracken | 1 hours agoIn the letter, Spanberger urged the Board to hold off on selecting finalists in the search and not to appoint a president until she has filled five current vacancies.
In a changed Honor system, the Honor Committee struggles to generate engagement
By Bertie Azqueta | 19 hours agoThe Honor Committee’s public meetings have been substantially shorter this semester. This semester the Committee’s meetings have had an average length of 34 minutes compared to 50 minutes in the 2024-25 term and 47 minutes in the 2023-24 term.
Student hot-spots on the Corner raise prices in response to increased operating costs
By Lily Kostro | 19 hours agoAndy McClure, owner of The Virginian and a class of 2001 alumnus, said that the last five years have placed a strain on the restaurant business due to significant expense increases.
