On January 4th, 2024, IPK Fellow Leif Weatherby penned an opinion piece for The Boston Globe titled “The Misguided Idea that Universities are Left-Wing Hotbeds.” Read the excerpt below, then click for the full article.

But here’s the simple truth: No elite university is driven by left-wing politics. It can seem otherwise, because over the course of our young century universities have committed themselves to social justice rhetoric. But they have not committed themselves to social justice, which should disappoint the actual left much more than it does. Our national discourse about universities tends to be focused narrowly on the Ivies, which are not representative. But even if we keep the focus there, the idea that universities are hotbeds of left-wing lunatics is just wrong.

It’s true that there’s a good deal of left-wing activism from students and that there are prominent professors voicing antiracist views, like the much-discussed Ibram X. Kendi of Boston University. But these same universities have influential moderates and conservatives and produce figures like Brett Kavanaugh (Yale) and Representative Elise Stefanik (Harvard), and that’s not an accident. As institutions, elite universities flaunt radical rhetoric while acting in conformity with the rightward swing of our society over the last half century.

Read the full article here.

Photo Credits: Sophie Park for The New York Times