More than 70-percent of full-time faculty registered to vote at the University of Oklahoma (OU) are Democrats, a Campus Reform survey of voter registration data at the school reveals.

Most professors at the University of Oklahoma are Democrats, a Campus Reform investigation reveals.

While 17-percent of professors are registered as independent just 13-percent of faculty registered to vote are Republicans.  In comparison, the voter registration by party for the state is 46-percent Democrat, 42 percent Republican, and twelve-percent independent. The state went for Romney in the 2012 presidential election.

There is also a wide disparity between the amount of money given to Democratic causes and Republican causes by OU faculty and administration.

In total, OU employees donated $41,487 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and $14,275 to other Democratic candidates and causes during the 2012 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org. In comparison, Mitt Romney only received $8,605 from OU employees.

Despite multiple requests, OU did not make a spokesperson available to Campus Reform for comment by the time of publication.

Peter Wood, who is the president for the National Association of Scholars, however, told Campus Reform on Wednesday he believes the figures reveal a liberal bias in the appointments process based on political affiliation.

“I think that it is a strong indicator of bias in the appointments process,” he said. “Faculty and search committees appoint people they like and… affinity of political views is a factor.”

Wood believes that students would benefit and be able to hear a wider range of opinions if the University of Oklahoma had greater parity of party affiliations among its professors.

“I think a more diverse set of party registrations would conduce to a better intellectual environment on campus and in the classroom,” Wood commented.

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