Belief Kiwi academia free of political bias is hogwash
As any number of graduation speeches formulaically tell you, the purpose of a university education is to “open minds”, “search for truth” and inspire students to think broadly and freely. We turn to academia for what we assume is scientifically rigorous, evidentially based, objective and unbiased knowledge.
Except that’s not the case. Six decades of research from the United States demonstrates universities and academics are frequently heavily biased and skew overwhelmingly to the political left.
In 1955 (ironically, out of concern rightwing McCarthyism was negatively impacting academic freedom), Paul Lazarsfeld led the first systematic attempt to poll academic political leanings. He surveyed 2451 social science professors and found they leaned left (liberal) to right (conservative) by a factor of 2 to 1.
In 1969, sociologist Seymour Lipset surveyed more than 60,000 academics in multiple fields about their political views and found almost half identified as liberal, just a quarter as conservative. Follow-up studies in the 70s, 80s and 90s showed an intensifying swing to the left. This trend took a sharp turn further left in the 2000s. Research from this period found that barely 12 per cent of US university professors identified as Republican.
Regrettably there is virtually no such research in New Zealand. In a small country there is little incentive for a biased and unobjective academia to turn a spotlight on itself. Further, none of our seven major universities has a reputation for embracing right-leaning thinking.
However, we can make some assumptions. There is no evidence our universities are less biased than US ones. In addition, New Zealand sits squarely to the left of the US politically and it would be out character for its academic institutions to be further to the right.
The clear evidence of significant and sustained left-wing academic bias is troubling. First, universities are the training ground for tomorrow’s leaders. Universities constantly remind us of the importance of “higher” education to open minds and critical thinking. How can you get a “complete education” when almost all your teachers think one way?
Second, universities exert tremendous influence on public policy. Academics, presumed to be objective and unbiased, are frequently used by authorities to diagnose and solve social problems and issues. Given the small lobbying industry, universities are practically the only source of non-governmental policy research in this country.
It is deeply concerning for democracy when research and commentary on policy solutions to New Zealand’s problems are formulated by people who, based on US experience, when they donate politically, donate to left-wing parties 99 per cent of the time.
Third, universities and academics wield substantial media influence. Virtually any time a complex social or scientific issue is covered by the media an academic will be contacted for an (apparently) objective perspective. When nine out of 10 of those academic voices in the media are not conservative, the public ends up with a highly biased view of that issue and potential solutions.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of systemic left-wing academic bias is the hypocrisy. The University of Auckland lists the following as the second of its nine core values: “Creating a diverse, collegial scholarly community in which . . . academic freedom is exercised with intellectual rigour and high ethical standards; and critical enquiry is encouraged.”
The evidence (note: empirical data over six decades) clearly demonstrates universities are anything but intellectually diverse or rigorous or encouraging of critical inquiry. They are overwhelmingly dominated by faculty who share a depressingly homogenous and unremittingly left-wing view of the world.
Perhaps until universities make a real commitment to diversity of thought the Government, media and students should be a lot more careful about believing what they tell us.