March 9, 2005

For decades, network television, public schools, and abortion clinics were some of the main fronts in the nation's culture wars. Now, however, college and university campuses are becoming a major battleground, as Christian and conservative students are fighting what they call an entrenched and ferocious liberal and humanistic monopoly that tries to silence all dissent.

USA Today highlighted a recent study by researcher Daniel Klein of Santa Clara University in California. He found that, nationwide, Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-1 among university faculty members in the social science and humanities departments. In departments like anthropology, the disparity grew to 30-1.

Do such overloaded faculties make any difference in the classroom? In an attempt to document what students thought, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) commissioned a survey which questioned students on 50 top U.S. college and university campuses.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the ACTA report found that 49 percent of all students said their professors use classroom time to advance their personal political views and "frequently comment on politics in class even though it has nothing to do with the course."

Even worse, said the WSJ article, 29 percent of students responding in the ACTA survey said they felt they had to agree with the professor's political or social views "in order to get a good grade."

Anne Neal, ACTA president, told WSJ: "If these were reports of sexual harassment in the classroom, they would get people's attention."

Conservatives are fighting back. Students for Academic Freedom provides information for students and student groups who feel besieged by the liberal atmosphere on campus. And the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) defends students who have had their constitutional rights violated by colleges and universities. World magazine noted that FIRE has been involved in more than 600 such cases since 1999.

Another option for Christians: foregoing the secular campus altogether. In the WSJ, author Charlotte Allen said, "America's 700-plus religiously affiliated colleges and universities are enjoying an unprecedented surge of growth and a revival of interest."

In a review of the new book God on the Quad, written by Naomi Schaefer Riley, Allen said statistics reveal that the number of students attending the 100 schools that make up the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities has risen 60 percent between 1990 and 2002.

These religious colleges and universities have pumped some 1.3 million graduates into the culture -- making them what Riley calls a "missionary generation."

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This article appeared in the March 2005 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.

American Council of Trustees and Alumni ( http://www.goacta.org )

© 2005 Agape Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission.