Month: March 2025

As noted in previous essays, there is a diversity issue in higher education: liberals outnumber conservatives. Given that conservatives have made their view of diversity clear, it is fair to apply their ideology to the issue of the dearth of conservatives in higher education.

When faced a lack of diversity, conservatives usually have two replies. I addressed first in an earlier essay: members of the underrepresented group freely decide to exclude themselves. For example, one might explain the relative low number of women and minorities playing tabletop wargames, such as Warhammer 40k, by claiming that they are generally not interested in the hobby. The second explanation is that the lack of diversity is due to a lack of competence on the part of the allegedly excluded groups. For example, the low number of women in top business, military and academic positions would be explained in terms of women being less capable than men. Some might add that incompetent people are capable in other area where they are more proportionally represented or even dominant. For example, someone might say that while women are inferior to men in science or business, they are capable nurses, speech language pathologists and grade schoolteachers. In some cases, these assertions are undeniably true. For example, men dominate American football because the strongest men are stronger than the strongest women. As another example, women are generally more capable than men for the role of surrogate mother. Since conservatives often find this explanation appealing, it seems fair to consider that a lack of competence is the reason why there are few conservatives in higher education.

Applying this conservative view to conservatives, the explanation for the lack of diversity is that conservatives lack the ability to succeed in higher education. While there are some exceptions, the ideological distribution is fair because of this disparity in ability. This is like the conservative claim that the lack of women in the upper levels of business, academics and the military match the distribution of ability: they claim most women are not as capable as men, hence men rightfully and fairly dominate. By parity of reasoning, most conservatives are not as capable as liberals, hence liberals justly and fairly dominate the academy.

An obvious reply is that ideology is different from sex or ethnicity. Conservatives can be of any sex or ethnicity because ideology is a matter of values. As such, it could be claimed, the idea that conservatives are less capable than liberals make no sense. It would be like saying that deontologists are less capable than utilitarians, that impressionists are less capable than surrealists, or that Yankees fans are less capable than Red Sox fans. This does have some appeal, but we should not abandon the conservative explanation too quickly.

This reply can be countered by arguing that while ideology does not change a person’s capabilities, a person’s capabilities might determine their ideology. That is, people with certain non-ideological qualities would tend to be conservative while people with other qualities would tend to be liberal. While psychology is not an exact science, it does show some interesting claims about the differences between conservatives and liberals. For example, it has been claimed that conservatives tend to be more afraid than liberals and hence have a greater desire for safety and security. Given these differences, it makes sense that conservatives would be less capable than be liberals in areas in which these differences would matter. Higher education, it can be argued, is such an area: the qualities that make a person more likely to succeed as a professor also tend to make them liberal. In contrast, the qualities that make a person more conservative would tend to make it less likely that they would have the ability to become professors.

While some liberals might be tempted to claim that conservatives are stupider than liberals, this need not be the case. After all, becoming a professor is not just a matter of being smart. Most smart people are not professors, and not all professors are smart. Conservatives can be just as intellectually capable as liberals, yet some of the other qualities that make them conservative could impair their ability to become professors (or so one might argue). One factor is that the process of becoming a professor involves having one’s most cherished ideas questioned, challenged and even attacked over the course of years—something liberals might handle better. As charitable conservatives might say that as women and minorities are well-suited for some fields, a charitable liberal might say that conservatives are well-suited for some fields outside the academy.

If it is true that what makes people conservative or liberal is relevant to their ability to become professors, then there are solutions to the problem of diversity. One is to engage in a process of affirmative action and DEI for conservatives: preferential hiring and adjusted standards to address the lack of diversity. Conservatives who oppose affirmative action and DEI would not be able to accept this approach. Unless their view is a matter of self-interest rather than a principle.

A second approach is to see if the academy can be modified to be more inviting to conservatives. For example, it might be that the way grad school classes are taught that deters conservatives. While conservatives are generally not fans of efforts of inclusion, they would presumably welcome such efforts if they were the ones being benefited.

Some readers might think the real reason conservatives are underrepresented in the academy is that liberals are to blame. I will address this in my next essay.

As noted in the previous essay, perhaps conservatives have good reasons to not want to be professors or professors have good reasons not to be conservatives. In this essay, I will offer some possible DEI solutions to the dearth of conservatives in higher education.

If highly educated conservatives find academics unattractive because of the lower salaries, then there are two ways to motivate them into becoming professors. One is to argue that capable conservatives should “take one for the team” and become professors. While this would be a financial loss for conservative professors, their sacrifices would benefit the community of conservatives. The challenge is persuading those who see self-interest as a core value to act in a way seemingly contrary to their self-interest.

Another approach, which would probably be more appealing, is for conservatives to offer financial support and rewards for conservatives who become and remain professors. This is already done in some cases, but expanding the support and rewards would help increase the number of conservative professors. One challenge is to ensure that the support and rewards go to actual conservatives. They would need to police ideological purity to keep out clever liberals (or even secret Marxists) who might exploit these opportunities for their own profit. And we would certainly not want anyone profiting from pretending to believe something.

A possible downside to this approach is that these recruited professors could be accused of bias because they are being paid to be conservative professors. will leave a solution to this problem to any conservatives who might be troubled by it.

A practical worry about supporting conservative students so that they become conservative professors is that their experiences in graduate school and as faculty might turn them away from conservatism. For example, they might start taking rhetorical attacks on experts and science personally as they become experts and scientists. As another example, they might find the hostility of Republicans to higher education a problem as they try to work in a field being attacked so vehemently by their fellows. But what about getting professors to want to be conservative? How could this be done?

One option for conservatives is to change their anti-expert and anti-science rhetoric. Rather than engaging in broad attacks on experts or science, they could confine their attacks to specific targets. Those not being directly attacked might find conservatism more appealing. The Republican party could also change its hostile attitude towards higher education towards a more positive approach. They could, for example, return to providing solid funding for research and education. If professors believed that Republicans would act in their interest and in the interest of their students, they would be more inclined to support them. Conservative faculty would probably also be more likely to stay conservative.

Taking such steps would, however, be a problem for the Republican party. After all, the anti-science stance towards climate change and their broad anti-expert stance have yielded great political success. Changing these views would come at a price. Providing support for public higher education would also put Republicans at odds with their views about what should be cut while giving tax breaks for the rich. It would also go against their strategy of monetizing higher education. As such, Republicans would need to weigh the cost of winning over professors against the advantages they gain by the policies that alienate professors.

Oddly enough, some people claim that it is the Democrats and liberals who are more anti-science and anti-intellectual than the Republicans. If this were true, then the Republicans are doing a terrible job of convincing scientists and intellectuals to support them. If they could convince professors that they are the real supporters of the sciences and the Democrats are the real threat, then they should be able to win converts in the academy. The challenge is, of course, proving this claim and getting professors to accept this proof. But this seems unlikely, given that the claim that Republicans are pro-science is absurd on the face of it.

While the culture warriors claim Marxism dominates higher education, a more realistic concern is that higher education is dominated by liberals (or at least Democrats). Conservatives (or at least Republicans) are an underrepresented minority among faculty. This disparity invites inquiry. One reason to investigate, at least for liberals, would be to check for injustice or oppression causing this disparity. Another motivation is intellectual curiosity.

While sorting out this diversity problem might prove daunting, a foundation of theory and methodology has been laid by those studying the domination of higher education by straight, white males. That is, professors like me. These tools should be useful and ironic for looking into the question of why conservatives are not adequate represented in the academy.  But before delving into theories of oppression and unfair exclusion, I must consider that the shortage of conservatives in the ivory towers is a matter of choice. This consideration mirrors a standard explanation for the apparent exclusion of women and minorities for other areas.

One possible explanation is that conservatives have chosen to not become professors. While not always the case, well-educated conservatives tend to be more interested in higher income careers in the private sector. While the pay for full-time faculty is not bad, the pay for adjuncts is terrible. Professor salaries, with some notable exceptions, tend to be lower than non-academic jobs with comparable educational requirements. So, someone interested in maximizing income would not become a professor. Education and effort would yield far more financial reward elsewhere, such as in the medical or financial fields. As such, conservatives are more likely to become bankers rather than philosophers and accountants rather than anthropologists.

A second possible explanation is that people who tend to become professors do not want to be conservatives (or at least Republicans). That is, the qualities that lead a person into a professorial career would tend to lead them away from conservative ideology. While there have been brilliant conservative intellectuals, the Republican party has consistently adopted a strong anti-expert, anti-intellectual stance. This might be due to an anti-intellectual ideology, or because the facts fail to match Republican ideology—such as with climate change. Republicans have also become more hostile to higher education. In contrast, Democrats tend to support higher education.

As becoming a professor generally requires a terminal degree, a professor will spend at least six years in college and graduate school, probably seeing the hostility of Republicans against education and the limited support offered by Democrats. Rational self-interest alone would tend to push professors towards being Democrats, since the Democrats are more likely to support higher education. Those who want to become professors, almost by definition, tend to be intellectual and want to become experts. So, the conservative attacks on experts and intellectuals will tend to drive them away from the Republican party and conservative ideology. Those pursuing careers in the sciences would presumably also find the anti-science stances of the Republicans and conservative ideology unappealing.

While my own case is just an anecdote, one reasons I vote for Democrats is that Democrats are more likely to do things that are in my interest as a professor and in the interest of my students. In contrast, Republicans tend to make my professional life worse by lowering support for education and engaging in micromanagement and ideological impositions. They also make life more difficult for my students. The anti-intellectualism, rejection of truth, and anti-science stances also make the Republican party unappealing to me. As such, it is not surprising that the academy is dominated by liberals: Republicans would usually not want to be professors, and potential professors would tend to not want to be Republicans.

But perhaps there is a social injustice occurring and the lack of diversity is due to the unjust exclusion of conservatives from the academy. It is to this concern that I will address in a future essay. We might need some diversity, equity and inclusion to get conservatives into the academy.