By Anthony Coppola
NORTH EASTON-- When the “debate” in the classroom turns to a quick, general consensus by students and professors, there is always the student who lurks in the back quietly, afraid to raise dissent in an atmosphere of seemingly liberal bias.
This student would be the closet-conservative, some might say a rare type of breed lurking on college campuses and other areas of learning.
“You just learn to deal with it,” Daniel Lavigne, a college junior and Republican, said. “I learned to stop caring about expressing my conservative opinions in the classroom. I just do it. Somebody has to.”
According to a survey conducted in 1990 by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles, 42 percent of college professors in the United States identified as liberal politically. In 2014, the percentage of professors identifying as liberal increased by 18 points, to 60.
“In my experience, professors tend to take subtle shots at conservative politics during their lectures,” Lavigne, who is also a member of the club Model United Nations, said. “They never support people like Hillary Clinton outright, but it’s clear where their allegiance lies.”
Brendan McInerney, a student of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who calls himself a conservative and Donald Trump supporter, described his take on liberal bias by his professors -- a bias strong enough that he is considering dropping out altogether.
“One of my professors revolved his lecture around climate change,” McInerney said. “And then there was an essay on it. So guess what? I challenged the climate change narrative.”
Then McInerney sighed and took his face in his hands.
“I got a C. I never got a C in my life. I even confronted the professor about it. I told him I thought he disagreed with me, and he danced around it, telling me my language was ‘inappropriate.’”
The same survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute polled students, as well. 141,189 first-year students were surveyed in 2015, and the results indicate that students are willing to shut down free speech they find offensive. The survey shows that 71 percent of students would “prohibit racist and sexist speech on campus.” 25 years ago in 1990, just 60 percent of students believed the prohibition of racist and sexist rhetoric on campus. That is an 11 percent increase in 25 years.
To what extent is something considered racist or sexist? It is unclear in the survey what qualifies, exactly, as these things.
“I hear some things on campus and I just roll my eyes,” Lavigne said. “No one knows what the definitions of ‘racism’ or ‘offensive’ are, yet everything is both of those things. Does freedom of speech exist these days?”
An area some college conservatives might say is “anti-free speech” and a product of the left is the “safe space.” The safe space is a place where people may go and be free from criticism, outlawing any talk considered “offensive” in these areas. But is the safe space conducive to success in the real world for its attendees?
“I think they’re an unrealistic escape from factors people will eventually have to face in life,” Brady Gambone, a college sophomore in Massachusetts, said. “They end up doing more harm than good.”
D.J. Deeb, Social Studies Department Chair at Notre Dame Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts and long-time Methuen, Massachusetts School Committee member, agreed.
“I am against safe spaces,” Deeb said. “They are a threat to free speech.”
Brett Smith, a college student who describes himself as a far-left liberal and a supporter of Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the 2016 presidential election, even acknowledged the predominant liberal atmosphere at his school, Stonehill College in Massachusetts.
“We definitely have a liberal environment,” Smith said. “After the election and Trump won it was very gloomy around here, and safe spaces were open for business.”
Although Smith, as a self-named liberal, is conscious of the claimed bias of his ideology around college, he said that he might be a rare find.
“When you believe something and everyone else agrees with you, you tend to forget about the other side and forget it exists,” Smith said. “You’re blinded by the obvious bias going on. But we have to have a debate. Us liberals say we want diversity, but what about diversity of opinion?”
Liberal bias is not only seen on college campuses. D.J. Deeb, also an adjunct professor of History and Government at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, explained that there is strong liberal bias in both higher education and secondary education.
“Higher education and secondary education tend to be mainstream liberal,” Deeb said. “Schools and colleges are in the business of educating the whole person, and it’s no surprise that liberal-minded teachers gravitate to that type of occupation.”
“I think there shouldn’t be biased opinions in a classroom setting by professors,” McInerney said. “That means they shouldn’t try to sway students by promoting their political ideologies. They’re supposed to teach, not brainwash.”
The following is a short video from YouTube on one aspect of college life:
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