The College Fix

ANALYSIS: University of Georgia faculty much more Democratic than state’s voters 

While Donald Trump won the Peach State by a slim margin on Tuesday night, the result would have been much different if only the faculty lounge at the University of Georgia voted.

A College Fix analysis found Republican professors are outnumbered by their Democratic peers at the University of Georgia by a ratio of 7 to 1.

Furthermore, three out of 12 humanities departments have no Republican professors, according to an analysis of publicly available Clarke County election data.

The Fix reviewed Clarke County election data for the 2020, 2022, and 2024 primary elections to determine someone’s party affiliation. The Fix did not review the surrounding six counties.

The survey looked up a total of 259 professors in the humanities departments based on their names listed on faculty department websites, as well as their curriculum vitae and research papers, to match identifying information. The research only includes professors, not adjuncts, lecturers, teaching assistants, or emeriti.

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.

Of the 259 professors looked up, a total of 130 could be identified as voters. Of those, 17 professors voted Republican a majority of times in the last six years. However, one responded to a verification email and said they are not a Republican. Meanwhile, 110 voted a majority Democrat in the 2020, 2022, and 2024 primaries.

Another three are listed as “non-partisan.” This refers to voters who did not vote in a political party’s primary, but only voted in nonpartisan elections, such as judges.

The English, history, and religion departments have no identifiable Republican professors.

The comparative literature and intercultural studies department, and the philosophy and sociology departments, have only one identifiable Republican professor in them. The linguistics and psychology departments appear to have two Republicans each.

The Fix emailed the heads of the history, religion, and English departments at the University of Georgia to ask about the tilt of their departments, but only one responded in the past week.

History Chair Kevin Jones said his department “does not consider political affiliation of job candidates,” and that following university policy, the department does not consider “race and ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, and religious faith and political affiliation” when hiring.

Jones said the department “would certainly investigate any and all accusations that individual faculty or the department as a whole engaged in any form of discrimination along any of these categories.”

J. Derrick Lemons, head of the religion department, and Roland Vegso, head of the English department, did not respond to two emails from The College Fix sent in the past week.

The College Fix emailed all 17 professors who voted a majority Republican and one provided comment on the political situation on campus.

He said he is surprised by the number of faculty who vote Republican based on this survey.

“UGA has been mostly politically inactive during the time I have been here, but our freedom is rapidly eroding,” the professor said via email to The Fix.

He said that the faculty at the university tries to push a majority conservative student body “to the left by offering socially conscious courses.”

“Some students have complained” about these courses and the left-leaning faculty, but he suspects that other students resent the requirements but chose to remain silent.

The professor requested to be left anonymous, as there would be “consequences” to his name being published.

Conservative student leader shares experience with ‘pure, leftist, liberal indoctrination’

A conservative student leader on campus told The Fix his experiences have varied when it comes to bias.

Luke Winkler, chair of the College Republicans chapter, said in a phone interview with The Fix that the ratio of Democrat to Republican is not at all surprising. Professors and administrators are effectively employees of a government agency and thus tend to lean “overwhelmingly liberal.”

The junior finance major said that pushback for being a conservative depends on the type of class and the specific professors, that for the most part there is no pushback.

But “whenever you get to the science professors and the poli-sci professors,” they will take political stances, “and they’re not very tolerant,” he said.

Winkler tells of a specific political science class that he took which was “a pure, leftist, liberal indoctrination.” The professor “would bash on Trump the whole time” and spoke about “how he worked for multiple Democratic campaigns, including the Obama campaign.”

Winkler said that this ratio of Democrats and Republicans among professors is “definitely not representative of the students.” With students, there are “probably still slightly more liberals than conservatives on campus. But it’s pretty close to 50/50.”

He said his fellow students should not “just be conservative in identity and name, [but] learn why you’re conservative, and fight for those beliefs, and do so in a way that is respectful and promotes civil discourse.”

Other Fix analyses in recent years show even red state universities can be dominated by Democrats. For example, The Fix recently found Democrats outnumber Republican professors 28 to 1 at the University of Arizona.

At the University of Oklahoma, 6 out of 13 humanities departments appear to lack a Republican professor. Democrat professors outnumber Republicans at a ratio of 7 to 1 at Ohio State University.

Meanwhile, the ratio is 16 to 1 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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

There are 258 unique professors and another seven who teach in two departments, for a total of 265. Of those six who teach in multiple departments, three voted Democrat, two voted Republican, and one is nonpartisan.

Breakdown:

Anthropology:
Republicans: 3
Democrats: 8
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 6
Total: 17

Classics:
Republicans: 1
Democrats: 2
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 6
Total: 9

Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies:
Republicans: 1
Democrats: 4
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 6
Total: 11

English:
Republicans: 0
Democrats: 18
Nonpartisan: 2
Unknown: 13
Total: 33

Geography:
Republicans: 2
Democrats: 11
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 9
Total: 22

History:
Republicans: 0
Democrats: 12
Nonpartisan: 1
Unknown: 11
Total: 25

Linguistics:
Republicans: 2
Democrats: 11
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 12
Total: 25

Philosophy:
Republicans: 1
Democrats: 5
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 6
Total: 12

Political Sciences:
Republicans: 4
Democrats: 10
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 15
Total: 31

Psychology:
Republicans: 2
Democrats: 12
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 26
Total: 42

Religion:
Republicans: 0
Democrats: 6
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 6
Total: 12

Sociology:
Republicans: 1
Democrats: 10
Nonpartisan: 0
Unknown: 8
Total: 19

MORE: Here’s everything Trump promised regarding higher ed reform

IMAGE: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter