It’s not difficult to detect a liberal bias in higher education, and the list of year’s commencement speakers at top universities only serves to illustrate that point further.
A new Young America’s Foundation survey revealed that a majority — 62 — of the commencement speakers at U.S. News and World Report top 100 universities were identified as leaning strongly left of center.
To be identified as “liberal” or “conservative” for the survey, speakers must have publicly supported ideological causes through speaking, writing, serving in public office, commentating or financial contributions. There were only 17 speakers from the top 100 that were identified as conservative, and the rest were listed as unknown.
“Speakers are usually a who’s who of prominent liberals in the country; it’s very hard to find conservatives on the list, and there are certainly no big name conservatives,” said Adam Tragone, director of external relations for YAF.
This year’s list includes four speakers from The New York Times, but none from The Wall Street Journal, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the country. In fact, absent were any speakers from News Corp., although Fox News is one of the top viewed cable news networks in the country.
Big name liberal speakers this year include: Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, speaking at his alma mater, Yale University, as well as Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell University; nanny-state advocate and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who will speak at Stanford University; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking at the University of California-Davis School of Law’s commencement; Oprah Winfrey, Harvard University speaker; and Vice President Joe Biden, who will speak at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Last year being an election year, it seemed like there were way more Obama administration officials on the list,” Tragone said.
He said that this is not just a recent trend, but has been an ongoing tendency over the past 20 years that YAF has done this commencement speaker survey.
“As we’ve seen over time, academia being more liberal, it makes sense,” Tragone said. “They want people who share their own viewpoints speaking to their students.”
He added that conservatives who speak their minds are often ostracized, such as Dr. Benjamin Carson. The Director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins hospital rose to notoriety when he came out against the Obama administration’s policies. He voiced his support for traditional marriage in a recent TV interview and delivered a speech critical of President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this year. Carson withdrew from speaking at the commencement ceremony of Johns Hopkins medical school after students petitioned against him.
“Graduation is an important speech that gets a lot of attention,” Tragone said. “There should be a balance, or someone who is not not going to inject his or her views into the speech.”
