MSU professors’ Campaign contributions
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
John Tarras, associate hospitality business professor — $4,600
Richard Cole, professor and chairman of the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing — $2,250
Naomi Breslau, epidemiology professor — $500
Michele Fluck, university distinguished professor of microbiology and molecular genetics — $500
Lalita Udpa, electrical and computer engineering professor — $500
Tomas Hult, director of Broad International Business Center and marketing and international business professor — $250
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Susan Florio-Ruane, professor of teacher education — $2,339
Karen Wampler, professor and chairwoman of the Department of Family and Child Ecology — $1,000
Lisa Cook, international relations and economics assistant professor — $1,000
Richard W. Hill, professor and associate chairman of Department of Zoology — $850
Charles MacCluer, mathematics professor — $420
Robert Nason, chairman and professor of marketing and supply chain management — $300
Chichia Chiu, associate mathematics professor — $300
Tom Bird, associate professor of teacher education — $250
Todd Ciche, assistant microbiology and molecular genetics professor — $250
Pascal Nzokou, assistant forestry professor — $250
David Weliky, associate chemistry professor — $200
Source: Federal Election Commission
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MSU professors give to Democratic campaigns
MSU professors fit a national trend among educators by donating more to Democratic presidential candidates than Republican candidates, even though Republicans nearly doubled the amount of contributions received from Michiganians.
According to the Federal Election Commission, no MSU undergraduate professors made donations of $100 or more to the state’s top two fundraising recipients, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., garnered the most contributions from MSU professors with $8,600. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., trailed with $7,159.
The only Republican donation of more than $250 that was made was an $800 contribution to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s campaign by F. Owen Irvine, an associate economics professor.
The numbers correlate with national donation trends among educators, as Obama has earned more than $5 million from educators, Clinton more than $3 million, Romney about $800,000 and McCain more than $500,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.
Matt Grossmann, an MSU assistant political science professor and national election expert, said educators are more likely to support liberal candidates because of the people the profession attracts.
“Ideologically, academics are skewed toward liberalism,” Grossmann said, citing a study conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“Conservatives are less likely to go into academia. It’s a selection effect.”
The state hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988, but Republican state donations have eclipsed $5 million, while Democratic earnings are nearing $3 million.
Grossmann and Bill Nowling, spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party, said there are two significant factors contributing to such numbers — the lack of campaigning by the Democratic candidates in the state and Romney’s connections to Michigan, the state in which he was born and raised.
Democratic candidates didn’t appear in Michigan before the state’s Jan. 15 primary because the Democratic National Committee stripped the state of its delegates for moving its primary to an earlier date, which violated committee rules.
Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards removed their names from the ballot, leaving Clinton as the only viable candidate.
Although her candidate wasn’t an option at the polls in January, Chichia Chiu, an MSU associate mathematics professor, made a donation to Obama’s campaign.
It was the first time she has made a donation to a political candidate.
“I just feel this candidate is really fighting and he said a lot of things and he did a lot of things a lot of other politicians never did before,” Chiu said.
Published on Monday, March 31, 2008
Comments
Ben Morlock
03/31/08 @ 10:47pm
Speech codes.
Censorship.
Enforced political conformity.
Hostility to diversity of opinion.
Sensitivity training.
We usually associate such things with the worst excesses of fascism and communism, not with the American universities that nurtured the free speech movement. But American higher education bears a disturbing resemblance to the totalitarian societies that are anathema to our nation’s ideal of liberty. Evan Coyne Maloney’s documentary film, Indoctrinate U, reveals the breathtaking institutional intolerance you won’t read about in the glossy marketing brochures of Harvard, Berkeley, Michigan, Yale, and hundreds of other American colleges and universities.
Don’t miss the screening of this provocative film on the campus of Michigan State University. One night only!
Date: Thursday, April 3, 2008
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Location: Computer Center Room 402
Chris
04/01/08 @ 1:02am
Ben, are you kidding me? I mean seriously, are you kidding? Go TRAVEL to a developing, totalitarian country before you try and compare America to it.
Frank
04/01/08 @ 2:40am
Chris, What do you expect from the College Republican Chair?
Kevin "Cooter" Ginsberg
04/01/08 @ 5:55am
“Conservatives are less likely to go into academia. It’s a selection effect.”
No, sir. More like a cluster-f**k — or a gross deception.
How else would you explain that all 27 tenure-track professors in the poly-sci department at the University of Iowa are registered Democrats?
For more on this —
No Republicans need apply for college teaching positions
Kevin
04/01/08 @ 6:05am
BTW: excellent footwork by the reporter and SN.
Plain old hard work, tracking down information.
Keep it going. Afflict the comfortable — in the Hannah Administration Building.
Shocked?
04/01/08 @ 8:49am
Am I suppose to surprised? The title might as well have said “The sky is blue” or “bush’s are bushy.”
Dan
04/01/08 @ 9:19am
Academia is a bastion of elitism, which is why liberalism thrives in the university. I enjoyed the liberal environment at college because it taught me what it feels like to be hated and despised for my beliefs.
Kris
04/01/08 @ 10:16am
File this worthless piece of crap in the ‘Obvious’ file, next to all of the articles by that Fish lady.
gdude
04/01/08 @ 11:15am
Maybe it is because research shows that the more educated a person is, the more likely they are to vote Democratic. This could explain the GOP’s constant assault on education, both higher and lower ed. “Keep em clueless and we can stay in power”. I for one am glad that the Dems are poised to pick up seats in both houses this fall. The coalition of the rich and clueless appears to be crumbling.
David
04/01/08 @ 11:50am
Kevin: can’t confirm if he is tenure-track or not, but one of our own, Tim Hagle, is a Poli Sci prof here in Iowa City, and has been since 1988. (PhD-‘88; MA-‘85; BA/BS-‘78…at at MSU). Not only is Tim a Republican (and openly so), we served together on the Republican Central Committee of Johnson County. His CV is here: http://www.uiowa.edu/~030116/Vitae07.pdf
Now, he may be the exception that proves the rule…
Jimmy Dean
04/01/08 @ 12:16pm
I find it amusing that Liberals say they want to teach tolerance, that is until you disagree with them. Then you are a piece of dirt.
They love spending other peoples money….but are the first in line to complain they need a raise…
I always say how much money would you work for and where is it worth not working any more?
10 dollars an hour? Where do you draw the line and become better off collecting off the states feed bag…
Under conservative thinking hard work and saving money brings rewards.
Liberals believe you should work so THEY can reap the rewards
common sense
04/01/08 @ 1:52pm
Dude, I don’t take people who think the world is 6000 yrs old seriously. That’s why there are fewer Pub profs.
Kevin
04/01/08 @ 5:13pm
More stat’s on politically-biased faculty —
Data=
More data
Recall Geo. Will, PhD (Princeton), former MSU faculty, said: “A donation to a public college is a donation to the Democrat Party.”
Fred
04/02/08 @ 11:54am
“Speech codes.
Censorship.
Enforced political conformity.
Hostility to diversity of opinion.
Sensitivity training.
We usually associate such things with the worst excesses of fascism and communism, not with the American universities.”
Excellent point — when I think of the “worst excesses of facism,” sensitivity training definitely comes to mind. Hitler’s SS, Michigan State’s Poli Sci Dept … the difference is only semantic, when you think about it.
Does anyone know if the (potentially interesting) film this guy mentions is as moronic and reactionary as his teaser? Or is it maybe worth seeing?
Matt Grossmann
04/02/08 @ 2:13pm
For those that are interested, here are the citations on conservative interest in academia:
Survey
Chronicle Article
Erin
04/02/08 @ 4:19pm
<q> always say how much money would you work for and where is it worth not working any more?
10 dollars an hour? Where do you draw the line and become better off collecting off the states feed bag…
</q>
You know what? There is actually a way to find this out! (for the state you live in, for best results repeat in every state, as specifics are state determined.) If you are really so curious, stop working. Stop working and apply for TANF.
Erin
04/02/08 @ 4:29pm
“Does anyone know if the (potentially interesting) film this guy mentions is as moronic and reactionary as his teaser? Or is it maybe worth seeing?”
Well you could google the film to see what there is about it. There is a website for it and wikipedia has some information on it.
I haven’t seen it. I’d be interested in seeing it, it sounds like a great comedy, but I’d rather not be surrounded by YAF style assholes, for my personal safety.
Erin
04/02/08 @ 4:41pm
Oh, and I personally find it HILARIOUS that these people are offended by the statement “whiteness is a form of racial oppression . . . treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity”. I think it’s funny how such people are more interested in taking bits of a statement to claim that white people are sooo oppressed, rather than bothering to try to understand what the person in question is talking about.
For one “whiteness” does not mean “white people” it refers to institutionalized white privilege. And yes, white privilege racially oppresses people of color.
I also find it amusing since this was a professor who apparently demanded that a kosher only toaster in a campus dinning hall be removed and paid for by private funds. That actually kind of sounds more like most racist conservatives I’ve met than anti-racist activists.
Conservatives
04/02/08 @ 4:46pm
How horrible! It’s about time universities start hiring professors based on political affiliation so that we can end the liberal conspiracy to indocrtinate college students. And once professors are hired, they should be forced to sign agreeement stating that they will never switch parties or support or vote for a candidate outside the party they stated they identified with.
Affirmitive Action for Republicans!