An article in a recent New York Times notes that Democrats overwhelmingly outnumber Republicans among college faculty, especially in the social sciences and humanities where the ratio is 7 to 1. The article is based on a research paper located here. The writer also says that this ratio is likely to increase in the future as older faculty, who are more likely to be Republican, retire and are replaced with younger faculty, who are more likely to be Democratic. One interesting excerpt:

The political imbalance on faculties has inspired a campaign to have state legislatures and Congress approve an “academic bill of rights” protecting students and faculty members from discrimination for their political beliefs. . . Academic leaders have resisted his group’s legislative proposal, saying that discrimination is rare and already forbidden, and they dispute the accusations of faculty bias.

There are different theories on why Democrats predominate over Republicans in academia. One is that conservatives are simply not that interested in academic careers, as opposed to liberals who choose academic fields that fit their world views. On the other hand, many conservatives say that they are directly or indirectly discriminated against in hiring decisions because so many faculty who influence those decisions are overwhelmingly liberal.

The actual research paper reports that, from largest to smallest, the biggest Democrat-to-Republican ratios are in:

• Anthropology 30.2:1
• Sociology 28:1
• Philosophy 13.5:1
• History 9.5:1
• Political Science 6.7:1
• Economics 3:1