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I had the pleasure several weeks ago of interviewing former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who returned to her position in the Political Science Dept. here at Stanford University.
Here are thoughts on politics and education, below, and the full interview – which ranges from education to September 11th to the recession – is located here.
SR: Why are conservatives underrepresented in academia?
CR: I’ve been asked that a lot and I have never really been able to come up with a good answer. Some people say that it dates back to the 1960s, when really universities were the epicenter of more revolutionary, activist thought and that [they say that the liberal] people stayed, and the conservatives didn’t. I think it would be an interesting research project to set up to see why that’s the case. I do think there are a lot of varying views. You have people who would be almost 100% liberal in their views and you have people who might be libertarian in their views. But I think if you looked at most faculty you will find that they have eclectic views—you will find social liberals and fiscal conservatives. You will find people who are socially conservative but don’t mind big government. I think it’s probably one of the reasons why it looks that way is voting patterns, but I think it’s more eclectic than people think.
