Passing on the right : conservative professors in the progressive university
Jon A. Shields (Author), Joshua M. Dunn (Author)
Should conservatives became professors? Few seem to think so. The left fears infiltration by conservatives marching to orders from the Koch brothers; the right steers young conservatives away by lampooning the leftism of the academy. Drawing on 153 interviews, Shields and Dunn seek to quiet these fears and shed light on the hidden world of conservative professors. Most such professors, they find, experience the university as a far more tolerant place than its right-wing critics imagine. In fact, it was in the university itself that many first turned right. Others say they feel more at home in academia than in the Republican Party. Even so, being a conservative in the progressive university can be a challenge. Many professors admit to closeting themselves prior to tenure, passing as liberals. Some openly conservative professors say they have suffered mistreatment on account of their politics, especially those who ventured into politicized disciplines or expressed culturally conservative views. Despite real challenges, however, the many successful professors interviewed by Shields and Dunn are evidence that conservatives can survive and sometimes thrive in one of America's most progressive professions. Liberals and conservatives alike need to rethink the place of conservatives in academia, the authors argue. Liberals should take the high road by becoming more principled advocates of diversity. Conservatives, for their part, should de-escalate their polemical war against the university, not least because it inadvertently helps buttress progressives' troubled rule there. -- from dust jacket
eAudiobook, English, 2016
Oxford University Press, New York, 2016