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Survey Shows Political Leanings of UW Faculty
There’s a new report that shows how out-numbered conservatives are on Wisconsin’s largest college campus.
The Tommy G. Thompson Center over the weekend released the results of a faculty survey that just 9% of faculty members on the UW-Madison campus call themselves conservative.
"UW–Madison faculty are substantially more liberal than both the general American public and Americans with doctoral degrees," the report noted. "Seven in ten faculty identify as some form of liberal, while fewer than one in ten identify as conservative. This imbalance is present across all academic fields, though it varies in degree, with the Humanities showing the highest concentration of liberal faculty. Economics-related fields stand out as having more ideological diversity than other social sciences, though they still lean liberal overall."
The Thompson Center said 633 of UW-Madison's 2,388 faculty members took part in the survey. The survey also "excluded non-faculty employees, emeritus or retired faculty, and faculty from other institutions."
Nationally, the study says, about a third of college faculty members identify as some some of liberal and another third identify as some sort of conservative. On the UW-Madison campus 50% of faculty members say they are either "liberal" or "extremely liberal."
Just 3% of UW-Madison faculty members say they are "extremely conservative."
The study also notes that a professor's politics plays a role in how they are treated on campus.
"Faculty comfort with expressing views on controversial topics varies by ideology, with conservative faculty consistently reporting less comfort, particularly when interacting with other faculty," the study added. "Conservative faculty also report feeling less comfortable on specific topics, particularly transgender issues."
But the study is not just a snapshot, it also is a warning that a one-sided political atmosphere at UW-Madison is hurting the university.
"More consequentially, the survey finds evidence that ideological imbalance may perpetuate itself through hiring. Significant minorities of faculty—ranging from 11% to 38% depending on the topic—appear less inclined to hire a candidate who expressed a conservative political view," the authors wrote.
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