A Conservative Harvard Professor on How the University Can Save Itself
- patricklewisbaker
- Apr 24
- 1 min read
Updated: Aug 21
In recent reports about the Trump administration’s assault on Harvard, the statistic is often cited that, at most, 3% of Harvard faculty members identify as conservative. I’m one of that 3%. I’ve taught at Harvard for 40 years. I’ve known some of my liberal and progressive colleagues for decades. I have great respect for many of them as scholars, scientists and human beings. I have a good idea of how they think.
Conservatives and libertarians who detest illiberal progressivism often imagine Harvard as the great Battleship Woke, crewed by faculty, students and administrators united in their desire to blast Western civilization and traditional America out of existence. They note that more than 90% of political donations from Harvard employees go to the Democratic Party.
That may be true, but the Harvard Undergraduate Open Data Project found that in the 2020 election, just 30% of Harvard faculty gave more than tiny amounts to political campaigns, and these donors were concentrated in the Kennedy School of Government and the Law School. Among Harvard faculty—at least, those who choose to answer surveys about their politics—only 32% say they are “very liberal.” What do the 45% who are merely “liberal” and the 20% who confess to being “moderate” think about Harvard’s current direction?
My sense is that the great majority of my colleagues don’t care for campus political activism…