Ever since the 2016 election, the political divide on college campuses has only grown wider. In a recent article published by the Texas State University student newspaper The University Star, senior Carissa Liz Castillo, an English major, argues that many conservative students are in the wrong when they claim universities indoctrinate students. Castillo writes:
Castillo further argues that Democrats are more educated than their Republican counterparts. She points to a poll conducted by Pew Research that says 54 percent of Democrats hold a degree, compared to 39 percent of Republicans. To claim that since Democrats hold a higher percentage of degrees means they are smarter is a dangerous belief. Degrees are merely certificates of completing classes, they don’t necessarily mean someone is smarter, has a higher IQ, or is more moral than anyone else. Someone with a Ph.D. could very well not be as smart as someone who has a bachelor’s degree and then decided to work rather than seek a higher degree.
In response to campus indoctrination, Samuel Abrams is quoted saying, “A whopping 86 percent of administrators see ‘personal values’ as important when educating, compared to a notably lower 59 percent of faculty.” He further explains, “With numbers like these, it shouldn’t surprise us when you and your parents tour schools and see countless narrow workshops and events created not by faculty, but administrators intended to highlight various harms and encourage various forms of liberal recompenses.”
Abrams further explains that college professors are more concerned about spreading their ideology. It’s no lie that college campus are made up of prominently liberal professors. A National Association of Scholars study suggested that “78.2 percent of the academic departments in my sample have either zero Republicans, or so few as to make no difference.”
NAS further explains, “Political homogeneity is problematic because it biases research and teaching and reduces academic credibility.” College is often a time when most students develop ideas and beliefs that will shape them. If college campuses are mainly liberal or left-leaning, then it would be hard for students to be exposed to conservative ideologies.
According to Campus Reform, “Republicans [on campus] were more than three times more likely to feel prejudice or discrimination than Democrats (51.7 percent versus 14.3 percent) and Republicans were three times more likely to feel intimidated to share their ideas in class due to political affiliation (36.9 percent versus 11.3 percent).”
Mason McKie is a senior at Texas State University, studying political science with minors in geography and history.
