Ideological Discrimination in Academia Is More Complicated than You Think

Faculty feel less threatened by the opinions of undergraduates than by those of Ph.D. students and their peers.

Many right-of-center students (especially those who are grade-obsessed) self-censor, fearing that their professors will punish them for their political and cultural views if they were to express them in class discussions or assignments.

It’s easy to understand why they are concerned. The dearth of ideological diversity in the professoriate is significant; in social-research fields, the left-to-right ratio is roughly 10:1. Professors rarely assign readings by conservative or libertarian intellectuals, let alone engage...