CBS News has an article that describes the emergence and growing assertiveness of College Republican student organizations around the country. The article notes that this is tied to the parallel trend of conservative critics lambasting the predominance of liberal/progressive professors on many college campuses:

These young GOP’s have a clear plan of attack that has already been executed at some of the nation’s most traditionally leftie institutions. First, confront liberal bias at the core by calling out professors they think are guilty. Next, get creative about attracting members and making conservatism cool on campus. Then, get prominent conservative speakers on campus, push to open student publications to conservative voices or start conservative newspapers. . . .

While back in the 1960s heyday of student protests, liberal students charged conservative-leaning professors with marginalizing liberal viewpoints in the classroom, the Republican radicals of today insist that their voices are being silenced by ex-hippie academics. . . . According to an increasingly vocal contingent of campus conservatives, the carryover of liberal political bias into the classroom is undeniable.

Well, I suppose they’re right about liberal students challenging the conservative academic establishment in the 1960s and that it’s apparently now swinging the other way as conservative students challenge the predominance of liberal professors these days. As the article and another post I wrote notes, sociology is one the most liberal-heavy academic disciplines in the country, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans 30 to 1.

For me personally, as a openly liberal sociologist, I tell my students on the very first day of class that my personal viewpoints tend to be liberal. However, I also tell them that it does not mean that my goal is to convince them that I’m right or to persuade them to think the same way I think. In fact, I really want them to bring up their own opinions, viewpoints, and perspectives so that we as a class can discuss them together and learn from each other.

Therefore, I don’t fear being questioned about my beliefs. But there needs to be ground rules on both sides -- (1) question and challenge in a calm and respectful way and (2) be prepared to support your arguments with data and examples. Ultimately, that’s what I trry to teach my students to do -- to examine and debate issues as sociologists, whether they are liberal, conservative, or neither.