Inside Higher Ed has a story today on a study that finds fault with the recent papers finding evidence that there is substantial leftist bias to be found on many American campuses.
Faculty bias is very difficult to quantify, but whether there is a lot of it or only a little of it doesn’t really matter. If, say 30 years ago, a feminist had said that there is a lot of sexual harassment on campus, would it have been an appropriate response to demand exact quantification of the amount that occurs before taking any steps to guard against it? No. Similarly, whether the number of professors who use their classrooms to peddle their own socio-political views rather than teaching a course that imparts knowledge of an academic field is in the millions or in single digits, it shouldn’t be tolerated at all.
