Yale University has finally achieved the academic version of Nirvana, a state of perfect peace and enlightenment. A recent study found that the faculty had finally purged every Republican donor from its ranks. While 98 percent of the political donations went to Democrats, not a single professor could be found who gave to a single Republican candidate. The complete lock for Democrats is in a country that is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.
The Yale Daily News reviewed more than 7,000 Federal Election Commission filings from 2025 listing Yale as the employer: “Of 1,099 filings that included ‘professor’ in their occupation, 97.6 percent of the donations went to Democrats, while the remaining 2.4 percent went to independent candidates or groups,” the student newspaper reported Jan. 14.”
The study reinforces the recent Buckley Institute report, which found that, of the 43 departments surveyed, 27 entire departments contained zero Republican professors.
Even if the study missed a couple of donations, the radical imbalance is a reflection of the lack of diversity at the school. It is not a perfect point of comparison. There can be a conservative or libertarian faculty member who does not make donations and does not register with any party.
Moreover, those of us who have criticized the lack of diversity have not argued for partisan criteria. Rather, these are metrics that help show the lack of diversity. Many scholars prefer to dismiss these criticisms as speculative or unproven. However, the problem has long been obvious and these studies reinforce what critics have said for years.
One professor is quoted as acknowledging the apparent problem. Carlos Eire, a history and religious studies professor, said, “It’s true, there is very, very, very little intellectual diversity at Yale and at most institutions of higher learning when it comes to politics.” Professor Eire added,“Academics in the US, Canada and Europe have been leaning left for the past three or four generations. And this is something that shows no signs of being corrected or correcting itself anytime soon.”
He is correct.
I was asked by the president of a top-ranked university how he could reverse this problem. He was convinced that the lack of intellectual diversity was causing lasting harm to higher education. I told him that one thing is clear: you cannot rely on faculty members to restore diversity.
I was at a dinner not long ago with a Harvard Law Professor who told me and others that he could not be expected to vote for a faculty candidate with whom he disagreed. Two of us objected that we do that all the time to reinforce intellectual diversity. He was entirely unapologetic and unyielding that he would not vote for faculty candidates who embrace conservative views of the Constitution that he considers wrong.
Faculty members have privately acknowledged for years that they have largely eliminated conservatives and libertarians, but rationalize their records on not finding “intellectually promising” conservative candidates. If the imbalance involved race or gender, a court would crush arguments that the lack of diversity is some unintended consequence of the applicant pool.
University presidents must create enclaves of diversity outside these departments, through institutes and centers that faculty members do not control.
Some faculty are more honest than others.
As I discuss in my book “The Indispensable Right,” Harvard is not just an academic echo chamber. It is a virtual academic sensory deprivation tank.
In a country with a majority of conservative and libertarian voters, fewer than 9 percent of the Harvard student body and less than 3 percent of the faculty members identify as conservative.
For years, Harvard faculty have brushed away complaints over its liberal orthodoxy, including purging conservative faculty. It has created one of the most hostile schools for free speech in the nation, ranking dead last among universities in annual studies by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
Only a third of students at Harvard feel comfortable speaking on campus despite being overwhelmingly liberal at an overwhelmingly liberal institution. (The percentage is much higher for the small number of conservative students).
Not long ago, I debated Professor Randall Kennedy at Harvard Law School about the lack of ideological diversity at the school. I respect Kennedy and I do not view him as anti-free speech or intolerant. Yet when I noted the statistics on the vanishing number of conservative students and faculty in comparison to the nation, Kennedy responded that Harvard “is an elite university” and does not have to “look like America.”
Of course, the problem is that Harvard does not even look like Massachusetts, which is nearly 30 percent Republican.
Yale, however, is now a perfect echo chamber where moderate, libertarian, and conservative students (if they can make it into the school) are left to self-censor and avoid backlash for their views.
OT – Minneapolis
Proclamation 80—Calling Forth the Militia and Convening an Extra Session of Congress
“On April 15, 1861,…President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling forth the state militias, to the sum of 75,000 troops, in order to suppress the rebellion. He appealed ‘to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union.’”
Proclamation 92—Warning to Rebel Sympathizers
“[On] July 17, 1862,…I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all persons within the contemplation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenancing, or abetting the existing rebellion or any rebellion against the Government of the United States and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States on pain of the forfeitures and seizures as within and by said sixth section provided.”
_______________________________________________________________________________
Abraham Lincoln was a Great American President.
Now President Donald J. Trump MUST implement his rendition of “The Lincoln Era,” close the border, rescind rebel sanctuary cities, compassionately repatriate all illegal and unassimilable aliens, issue mass temporary work permits with no path to citizenship, revoke birthright citizenship, make English the sole official language, commence a war to defeat the rebellion, impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus, “smash” rebel printing presses, networks, podcasts, and social media platforms, and imprison political opponents and rebel judges, all in order to save, not the Union, but the Nation, eradicate the communist American welfare state, and place America squarely back on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, including absolute freedom, free enterprise, free industries, free markets, private property, and minimal taxation and regulation, alongside infinitesimal constitutional government.
Maybe, just maybe, there are more conservs. at Yale than meets the eye. Maybe they’re donating to democrats so they won’t become targets when in fact they support conservatives. I wonder what the average donation is? That would gauge the degree of their liberalism. The fake liberals donate over $100 donors to avoid suspicion and really are conservatives, while the $10 donors are real liberals.
A large body of research has demonstrated that as a person acquires more education, they tend to become more liberal in their political viewpoints. For example, several studies demonstrate that with increased access to higher education, people demonstrate fewer authoritarian and racist viewpoints. Obviously, most college and university professors are highly educated, so it stands to reason that more available candidates for these positions are going to lean LEFT. To counter that, as I believe Professor Turley is suggesting universities do, one would need to give MORE weight to those candidates who are RIGHT leaning, despite them maybe not having the same credentials as a LEFT leaning candidate – to ultimately establish more diversity of opinions among all professors. That is something called Affirmative Action. I’m honestly, really happy to see Professor Turley do a 180 on this topic as he has so frequently spoken out against Affirmative Action. It really demonstrates that Professor Turley is willing to change his mind on things. Kudos.
lol .. . I’m pretty sure Turley used to be a ‘left-wing’ professor.
*you’ll have to buy my book for further details.
Please document the studies to which you refer. I hold that the more highly educated these liberal people and academics become, the MORE authoritarian and racist, not less, they become, Their authoritarianism is manifest by their contempt for persons of opposing political beliefs and the racism of some is manifest by their contempt of, and prejudice toward, white people, especially white males.
Hi Vincente,
Here’s a good recent study:
Carnevale, Anthony P., Nicole Smith, Lenka Dražanová, Artem Gulish, and Kathryn Peltier Campbell. The Role of Education in Taming Authoritarian Attitudes. Washington, DC: McCourt School of Public Policy, Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University, 2020.
AI Summary: This study finds that higher education—especially liberal arts—significantly reduces authoritarian attitudes by fostering critical thinking, civic responsibility, and interpersonal trust. It shows that college graduates are less likely to support authoritarian leadership and more likely to engage in democratic processes. The report positions education as a protective force against authoritarianism, especially in times of crisis.
link: https://www.natcom.org/resources-library/academic-work-on-education-anti-authoritarianism-example/#:~:text=Carnevale%2C%20Anthony%20P.%2C%20Nicole,especially%20in%20times%20of%20crisis.
I believe that there is also a somewhat pragmatic reason for liberal professors….these guys become Peter Pans because they’re spending their days with people between the ages of 18 and 22, and they want to be popular.
If you think like a child, you write like a child, Time to grow up.
Mr. Turley, you are an excellent resource for anyone who agrees, or disagrees, with your reasoning. Major colleges and universities have few conservative professors for a reason . . . they despise conservatives as if they were “uneducated”.
Elites in higher education should take off their blinders and sit down and listen to others with whom they disagree. However, that wouldn’t happen since professors would view conservatives as uneducated and unworthy of their time.
Turley: “Affirmative action and DEI practice is bad for the country!”
Also Turley: “We need affirmative action to hire more Republicans and diversify University faculty!”
Also also Turley: “Please buy my new book!”
Dear Prof Turley,
According to Gallop polling, 46% of Americans identify as ‘Independents’, 27% identify as Republican and 27% identify as Democrat.
Perhaps, Yale (& the Pew Research center) should employ more ‘Independents’ if they want to accurately reflect the political diversity of Americans.
*when you think about it, perhaps “we shouldn’t even have an election”?
“It’s some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,” Trump said. He boasted that he had accomplished so much that “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”