REPORT: 99.51% of top liberal arts prof. contributions go to Dems
Only one undergraduate professor from the top 50 liberal arts colleges has donated to a Republican presidential candidate in the current election cycle.
According to FEC third quarter reports released October 16, 47 professors at the top 50 liberal arts colleges in the country, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, have given to presidential campaigns. Of those 47 professors, Hamilton College History Professor Robert Paquette was the sole donor to a Republican candidate, giving $150 to Carly Fiorina’s campaign.
The remaining 99.51 percent went to Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The 46 other professors collectively donated $20,875 to Hillary Clinton and $8,417 to Bernie Sanders. Professors donating to Clinton have given an average of $1,043.75. Those giving to Sanders donated an average of $323.73.
"I do believe these numbers give an accurate representation of the political leanings of faculty on most college campuses," Paquette wrote in an e-mail to Campus Reform, "especially allegedly elite liberal arts colleges like Hamilton College," where he claims to be the "only out-of-closet conservative in a faculty of 200."
After 35 years of experience in higher education, Paquette believes that the business "has become a racket monopolized by the academic left."
Paquette argues that with cover from "spineless or sympathetic" administrators, leftist faculty are able to keep their campuses liberal. Conservatives like himself can be prohibited from participating in searches for their own department and large endowment funds are "lavished on faculty activists and their programmatic agendas.”
Paquette says that trustees know about the problem but "[prefer] not to hear, see, or speak any evil to protect the elite ‘brand’ of the college."
When the search is expanded to include students, graduate/law professors, and administrators at the elite group of colleges, Paquette’s donation is joined by an additional $6,150 to Jeb Bush, $150 to Ted Cruz, $2,000 to Carly Fiorina, $540 to John Kasich, and $250 to Scott Walker.
Even so, only 10.84 percent of donor affiliates gave to Republican candidates, and their donations amount to less than 15 percent of total contributions.
Historical giving patterns reveal a strong bias toward liberal candidates, especially at the nation’s most elite colleges. In 2012, Campus Reform reported that 96 percent of Ivy League donations went to the Obama campaign. So far this cycle, over 95 percent of Ivy League affiliates have donated to Democrat candidates.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @JMietus