Poll Finds the Public Opposes Government Interference in Academe

But some people remain concerned about radical professors

Related materials

Chart: Are professors paid the right amount?

Chart: Tenure, academic freedom, and the public

Chart: Perceptions of academe

Chart: Putting bias in perspective

Chart: Confidence and prestige gaps

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By SCOTT SMALLWOOD

Within the halls of higher education, nearly everyone has heard of David Horowitz's "academic bill of rights."

Professors and students debate whether politics are too prevalent in the college classroom and if so, what to do about it. Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly rails against Ward Churchill. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni claims faculty clubs are filled with more Churchills. Conservative blogs encourage Yale University alumni to withhold donations until a former Taliban spokesman is kicked off the campus.

But does any of this matter to the rest of the country? How do Americans perceive issues that seem so important to the soldiers in the new academic culture war?

The American Association of University Professors set out to answer just this question, with a telephone survey of 1,000 people conducted in March. Are Mr. Horowitz and his "academic bill of rights" battles in state legislatures, AAUP researchers asked, really a significant storm?

The answer, according to the results of the public-opinion survey, released at the association's annual meeting last week, seems to be not quite. It's not a hurricane blowing down the ivory tower, nor a tempest in a teapot. Consider it more of a rainstorm in a bathtub.

Most people, however, do not think that political bias in the classroom is the most important issue facing higher education. That title easily goes to "the high cost of college tuition" — chosen by 43 percent of the survey respondents. Political bias did not beat out binge drinking or "low educational standards." Just 8 percent identified it as the top issue.

That's not to say people do not see bias as a problem. When asked to identify "very serious problems," nearly 38 percent mentioned political bias.

Like many of the survey results, answers differed widely for Democrats and Republicans. Almost half of the Republicans identified bias as a very serious problem, whereas 27 percent of Democrats labeled it that way.

This polarization was the most striking feature of the results to Neil Gross, an assistant professor of sociology at Harvard University who wrote a summary of the survey's responses.

In an e-mail message to The Chronicle, he noted that conservatives, the elderly, and those without a college education tend to be more skeptical of the job professors are doing.

"The claims Horowitz and others are making do resonate in one way or another for a significant minority of Americans," he wrote. "People who value academic freedom and free speech have reason to be concerned."

Views on Academic Freedom

Even if they believe that political bias is an issue, few people believe that government and politicians are the solution. About 80 percent disagreed that the "government should control what gets taught in the college classroom."

And 80 percent agreed that "the best way to ensure academic excellence is to make sure politicians don't interfere with research in colleges and universities."

Roger Bowen, general secretary of the AAUP, takes those results to mean that most Americans do not favor Mr. Horowitz's "academic bill of rights" — a set of principles that Mr. Horowitz believes will make colleges and universities more "intellectually diverse."

"They do have an instinctive feel and sense that the kind of legislation that Horowitz is advancing is just not acceptable," Mr. Bowen says.

For his part, Mr. Horowitz says he has never argued that government should police the classroom. He says he has sought legislative resolutions because he wants to prod professors to live up to the AAUP's "very good academic-freedom guidelines" — and keep political activism out of the curriculum.

"They're such liars," Mr. Horowitz says of the AAUP. "They misrepresent what I'm about."

But the survey results also suggest that the AAUP cannot claim that all Americans view academic freedom the way the organization does. For instance, nearly 40 percent of the respondents disagreed that "professors who oppose the war in Iraq should be allowed to express antiwar views in the classroom." And 63 percent said public universities should be able to dismiss professors "who join radical political organizations like the Communist Party."

Finally, 57 percent agreed that "there's no room in the university for professors who defend the actions of Islamic militants." (Mr. Horowitz says that number should be even higher: "We're at war, people.")

John W. Curtis, director of research for the AAUP, says the survey results suggest a lack of public support for academic freedom. In a written statement about the results, Mr. Curtis said, "While the concept of academic freedom seems to be one that people can embrace, when it comes to specific controversies, I think we have our work cut out for us in defending the right of academics to examine — let alone advocate — unpopular points of view."

Blue-Red Divide

The survey also highlighted a gap between the way conservatives and liberals view higher education. People who described themselves as liberal were more likely to say they had "a lot of confidence" in colleges and universities. More than half of them said they had a lot of confidence, while less than a third of conservatives felt the same way. A question about whether people considered being a professor "very prestigious" found a similar gap.

Little surprise, then, that 49 percent of Republicans said political bias was a problem in colleges, compared with just 27 percent of Democrats.

Mr. Bowen says the survey showed that "Democrats tend to be on the side of angels, as far as the AAUP principles are concerned." But it also found a sizable minority of people who favor what the AAUP sees as restrictions on academic freedom. The group, says Mr. Bowen, "consists of conservatives and people with low levels of education."

Perhaps the most striking single result from the survey is the large portion of Americans who are unaware of something professors care deeply about: tenure. Just 55 percent said they had heard of tenure for professors. Mr. Gross worries that this number means "there's more room for political extremists like Horowitz to come in and influence public opinion."

"We think it's telling that upset over liberal bias in the academy is greater among those who haven't been to college than among those who have," Mr. Gross wrote to The Chronicle. "Some of this probably reflects displaced resentment over growing class inequalities in our country. ... But it's also a classic case of it being easier for people to hold negative stereotypes when they don't have much meaningful interaction with the stereotyped groups."

In their paper summarizing the results, Mr. Gross and Solon Simmons, a researcher at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, noted that previous researchers have described American higher education as "Teflon-coated" — criticisms may be voiced, but they fail to stick. This latest survey, they wrote, suggests that "some of the Teflon has worn off."

"A significant minority believe that colleges and universities are havens for liberals and 'radicals,' that conservative professors do not get a fair shake, and that professors are too distracted by identity politics," they wrote.

Mr. Bowen says he is not surprised that some of the criticisms stick more than they once did. "In as much as higher education is seen as yet another institution in society there for political capture or private gain, it follows that we're no longer seen as the ivory tower," he says. "To the extent that the ivory-tower image has collapsed, then yes, they're just going to treat us like another institution."

ARE PROFESSORS PAID THE RIGHT AMOUNT? NOTE: More than a quarter of the respondents said they couldn't answer the question, but of those who did, the majority said professors earned the right amount.

TENURE, ACADEMIC FREEDOM, AND THE PUBLIC The American Association of University Professors sponsored a survey of 1,000 Americans this spring to examine the public's view of charges of political bias within colleges. While generally supportive of tenure, Americans do not believe it should protect professors with extreme views. Agree: strongly somewhat Disagree: somewhat strongly Professors who oppose the war in Iraq should be allowed to express anti-war views in the classroom: 29% 32.5% 14.4% 24.1% Public universities should be able to dismiss professors who join radical politcal organizations like the Communist Party: 44.9% 17.7% 18.4% 19% There's no room in the university for professors who defend the actions of Islamic militants: 39% 18% 21.8% 22.2% The best way to ensure academic excellence is make sure politicians don't interfere with research in colleges and universities: 50.1% 30.3% 13.6% 6% The government should control what gets taught in the college classroom: 6.7% 13.9% 18% 61.4%

PERCEPTIONS OF ACADEME   Percentage that agree Most professors are respectful when students voice political opinions that differ from their own: 71.5% American colleges and universities welcome students of faith: 80.8% Political views of college and university professors do not affect how well they do the job: 57.1% Colleges and universities tend to favor professors who hold liberal social and political views: 68.2% Too many professors are distracted by disputes over issues like sexual harassment and the politics of ethnic groups: 61.8% Too much research conducted by professors is irrelevant to society's needs: 52.4% Professors should spend more time teaching and less time doing research: 60%

PUTTING BIAS IN PERSPECTIVE For the survey respondents, political bias in the classroom was not the most serious problem facing American higher education. About 43 percent said the biggest problem was the "high cost of tuition." Just 8 percent labeled political bias as most serious. Respondents who described the following issues as "very serious problems" facing higher education Liberals Conservatives The high cost of tuition: 84% 77% Binge drinking by college students: 69% 66.1% Low educational standards: 45.9% 51.1% Crime on campus: 50.8% 39% Political bias in the classroom: 34.4% 45.5% Too much focus on college athletics: 39.1% 34.2% Incompetent professors: 35.7% 35.9% Lack of support for a diverse student population: 39.6% 22.6%

Liberal Democrats Conservative Republicans Confidence Gap Proportion who say they have "a lot of confidence" in colleges and universities: 53.1% 26.8% Prestige Gap* Proportion describing job of a college professor as "very prestigious": 65.5% 40.6% * Over all, 53 percent of the respondents described the occupation of professor as "very prestigious." That was behind the 72 percent who labeled being a physician the same way, but far ahead of the 34 percent that described being a lawyer as a "very prestigious" occupation.