Statistically, Harvey Mansfield should be a raging liberal. He’s been at Harvard since 1949. In 2008, 93% of Harvard faculty political contributions were to Democrats. At Yale in the same year it was 94%. While it is no secret that America’s colleges and universities are bastions of liberalism, Harvey Mansfield in our latest episode discusses how that happened and the effect that it has on our society.
The short answer to why faculty at impressive academic institutions are so left leaning is: they can’t help it. As Mansfield says, they are so insular – always in their own world – the prime example of an echo chamber.
One of the first casualties of the liberal stranglehold on the academy is a healthy emphasis on Western Civilization. As liberals rose in prominence in American universities, starting in the late 1960s, Western Civilization classes came under fire. Great books classes, Mansfield argues, introduce students to timeless problems and questions. Thinking through concepts like “what is the Good Life?” or “is it a good thing to be ambitious?” or “what is the relationship between philosophy and theology?” is essential to developing one’s ability to identify truth and virtue. With liberals in charge, these classes were labeled as “narrow minded” and were replaced by anti-Western courses that sought to apologize for the power and prominence of Western Civilization.
For more on that and other topics, like rampant grade inflation and the soft despotism of sensitivity, watch the full episode below:
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