Out-numbered

According to the Dartmouth Review, for every one Dartmouth professor registered as a Republican in the three towns closest to the college, there are 12.5 who are registered as Democrats. Our friend Michael Ellis editorializes that this state of affairs short-changes Dartmouth’s liberal students the most. He argues that the solution is for conservatives to become professors, and cites as inspiration the way in which think tanks like the Heritage Foundation enabled conservatives to fight their way into the public policy discussion.
Without disagreeing with Michael’s solution, we should remember that, in collecting talent, conservative think tanks took advantage of the fact that twenty years ago colleges were inhospitable to rising conservative academics. Today they are even less hospitable. Thus, while conservatives who are just passing through college may not be seriously short-changed by the status quo, the same probably is not true for those who are thinking about sticking around.