The College Fix

ANALYSIS: Zero Republicans found in communications, classics, religious studies, sociology, and gender and women’s studies

Democrat professors at the University of Arizona appear to outnumber Republicans by about 28 to 1 in 12 departments, a College Fix analysis found.

Additionally, The Fix found that there are zero identifiable Republican professors in at least five departments.

The Fix conducted its research using voter registration data and identified 237 party-affiliated professors out of 369 in 12 departments. Of those 237, 222 were Democrats, 7 were Republican, and 8 were registered with third parties. Another 76 were unaffiliated while 56 were unidentified.

This means 3.4 percent of identified professors who are registered to vote are Republicans, while 96.6 percent are Democrats, when broken down by the two major parties.

The Fix obtained voter registration lists from Pima County through a public records request and only looked at professors, not lecturers, adjuncts, or emeriti faculty.

Out of the 12 departments, communications, classics, sociology, religious studies, and gender and women’s studies did not appear to have any Republican professors. Of these, the gender and women’s studies department had the greatest disparity, with 37 Democrats and zero Republicans.

Several departments only had one Republican professor, including English, psychology, political science, philosophy, and history. Of these, the psychology department had the greatest disparity, with 42 Democrats to 1 Republican.

Economics was the only department with two Republican professors. No department had more than two.

There may be crossover in some departments. When professors are listed in multiple departments, The Fix puts them under what appears to be their primary discipline. These departments may have Republicans from other majors teaching classes, in addition to the other political parties.

UA spokesperson Mieczyslaw Zak told The College Fix in an email statement that “the University of Arizona does not inquire about an applicant’s political affiliation, and it adheres to equal employment opportunity laws and non-discrimination policies.”

The school “values diverse perspectives as they help students strengthen their critical thinking skills and respect for views with which they may disagree,” Zak stated.

MORE: Zero Republican professors found in 6 departments at Florida State U.

He provided examples of recent events on campus that featured a wide variety of speakers such as “Charlie Kirk, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Mark Kelly, former President Barack Obama, former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and former Obama aide Johanna Maska.”

However, National Association of Scholars Communications Director Chance Layton told The Fix in an email statement that “Such a strong disparity limits the possible conversations students can have on campus.”

He stated:

It effectively stumps intellectual development by keeping students in an ideological bubble. By having a disparity that’s closer to parity, students are offered the opportunity to challenge their beliefs, find exposure to new research and ideas, and otherwise grow intellectually. College administrators disadvantage their students by excluding centrist or right-leaning professors.

Education simply becomes a conga line of leftist ideology. That does little to help the quality of education or better the lives of students. Worse, it likely encourages the decline in public perception of higher education.

To remedy this issue, Layton suggested that colleges “do away with ‘diversity rubrics’ and ‘diversity statements’ in hiring.”

“Professors should be hired and fired based on the quality of their work, not on their allegiance to a current leftist fad,” he stated.

The College Fix reached out to all seven Republican professors in the departments analyzed, UA’s College Republicans, Turning Point USA, and Young Democrats chapters, and Arizona College Republicans via multiple emails or Instagram messages in the last week. One professor declined to comment while the rest did not respond.

The Fix also reached out to the school’s sociology, communications, classics, and women and gender studies departments for comment on the lack of Republican professors via email and voicemail. The gender and women’s studies department referred The Fix back to the university spokesperson while the sociology department deferred to the department director, who did not respond to request for comment. The other departments did not respond.

The Fix has chosen not to publish its spreadsheet of specific names to protect the identity of Republican professors.

This is the just latest report to find a gap between Democrat and Republican professors at public universities.

Last month, The Fix found zero Republican professors across six humanities departments at the University of Oklahoma among 13 reviewed and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill among 11 reviewed. Furthermore, there are zero Republicans in seven humanities departments at North Carolina State University.

Breakdown:

Classics:
Dem: 8
Rep: 0
Unaffiliated: 5
Unknown: 3

Communications:
Dem: 8
Rep: 0
Unaffiliated: 6
Unknown: 3

Economics:
Dem: 4
Rep: 2
Unaffiliated: 9
Unknown: 8

English:
Dem: 37
Rep: 1
Unaffiliated: 8
Unknown: 4

Gender and Women’s Studies:
Dem: 37
Rep: 0
Unaffiliated: 6
Unknown: 4

History:
Dem: 20
Rep: 1
Unaffiliated: 2
Unknown: 2

Philosophy:
Dem: 10
Rep: 1
Unaffiliated: 12
Unknown: 5

Political Science:
Dem: 23
Rep: 1
Unaffiliated: 9
Unknown: 12

Psychology:
Dem: 42
Rep: 1
Unaffiliated: 10
Unknown: 10

Religious Studies:
Dem: 22
Rep: 0
Unaffiliated: 6
Unknown: 2

Sociology:
Dem: 11
Rep: 0
Unaffiliated: 2
Unknown: 3

The Fix omitted the Interdisciplinary Studies from the analysis for privacy reasons because it only has two full professors.

MORE: New U. Arizona DEI course requirement hit with criticism: ‘academically unserious’

IMAGE: The University of Arizona/Youtube

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