The Leftist Domination of the University of California

Hat tip to Townhall

Debra Saunders, who has been a columnist for many years for the San Francisco Chronicle, has written an important piece that is appearing on Townhall, in which she explains the domination of leftist professors within the University of California system.


http://townhall.com/columnists/debrajsaunders/2012/04/01/ucs_leftist_echo_chamber_drowns_out_diverse_voices

Having been an adjunct teacher at the University of California at Irvine since 1998, I have followed this
phenomena for quite some time-especially as it pertains to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which is the major point of contention on UC campuses-as well as other campuses across North America (including Canada).

As far as the disparity of conservative professors, I think a large part of the problem is that those with a conservative mindset are not usually attracted to an academic career. (I wasn't until I retired from DEA.) They usually go out in the real world to make a living and acquire real life experiences. The liberals who dominate academia usually are those who go from BA/BS to Masters to Doctorate and right into teaching. Do I have the empirical evidence for that at my fingertips? No, but I would bet my mortgage that the above statement would be borne out by any study.

The university is a friendly environment for the left-indeed the far-left. The problem is that it carries over into the classroom, where leftist professors see their job as indoctrinating their students rather than providing them with a balanced or neutral education as to world issues. It used to be bashing conservatism and Republican politicians in order to further the "progressive cause". Now it is also  focused on bashing Israel and promoting the Palestinian cause.

But one might ask; why such emphasis on an issue half a world away? It is largely because American universities have accepted millions of dollars from Middle East interests including Saudi Arabia to establish Middle East departments staffed with anti-Israel zealots who use their classrooms as soapboxes to deligitimize Israel as a nation that doesn't even have the right to exist as a Jewish state free from attack from a hostile Arab/Muslim collection of dysfunctional dictatorships that themselves have no regard for human rights. Plus, it also fits nicely into the overall anti-America, anti-Western civilization, post colonial philosophy that is prevalent in virtually all universities. If you criticize it, you are accused of being racist or "Islamophobic."

So what is the result within the UC system, where the problem is acute? Today, we see a collection of campuses with humanities and social sciences dominated by leftist ideologues posing as professional educators. Add to that a collection of feckless chancellors hiding under their desks and supervised from above by an equally feckless president (Mark Yudof), who has allowed his campuses to become places where Jewish students who support Israel and assert their Jewish identity are subjected to intimidation and harassment.

Saunders' article is welcome, but it only scratches the surface of the problem. Here is the scary point: Every single one of our future educators, university administrators, and political leaders are today walking through the hallways of these campuses.