Faith has asked what the left would do if there was conservative bias in the universities. Let me point out what the left
has done.
It is the opinion of those on the left that the mainstream media shows a consistent conservative bias. People who disagree with this may take part in the ongoing topics on this or start a new thread; I merely state as a fact that we on the left consider the media to be biased toward conservative opinion.
But we on the left (at least most of us) do not call for legislative remedies for precisely the same reason we are against legislative remedies to combat "liberal bias" in academia: the promotion of opinion and analyse cannot be "legislated" to perform fairly -- "fairness" can only come about by the reasoned analyses by those prepared to carefully examine the facts and arguments, not by determining whether this many editors hold this view or whether this person feels that her opinion was disrespected.
So what do the "liberals" do?
We organize and form
groups to examine the content of the mainstream media, to point out consistent errors in fact, and to provided details and opinions that are consistently neglected. These organizations also compile statistical data to demonstrate how consistent the bias is.
We form our own media, establishing magazines and journals that go from merely
liberal to more
radical to the avowedly
Marxist. We also create our own
broadcasting services.
The only legislative remedies we call for do not call for any oversight of content. We call for antitrust laws to prevent too many media outlets from accumulating into too few hands; we want a publicly funded broadcasting service that will be independent of the market place; and we want looser regulations to allow low power radio stations to become more common.
Now the conservatives seem to be able to do provide these same remedies in the case of higher education. Faith has already posted one website for watchdog group to combat "liberal bias" in the universities.
There are many small, fully accredited Christian colleges located in very conservative communities -- I should know, because I was on a job search last year. Some of these colleges require the applicant to state how they would contribute the Christian mission of the school. I suspect that many of these colleges are not guilty of any liberal bias. Furthermore, relatively recently Jerry Falwell started
Liberty University, a fully accredited university, specifically to combat "rampant liberal bias" in the university system. It even has an accredited
law school whose avowed mission is to remedy what the Christian right feels are defects in the "liberal" legal system.
Furthermore, there is a variety of conservative think tanks and conservative foundations that give money to conservative causes. There is, therefore, opportunity for conservative scholars to engage in research and have their results published.
My first point is that I think it is clear that the left has already demonstrated that they would not automatically go marching to the legistlatures if there were conservative bias in the universities.
My second point is that there is opportunity in the "market place of ideas" to combat any liberal bias in the universities, and that the conservatives have already shown that they are able to take part in this without using a legal sledge hammer.
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