Often educators will reject the claims that politics are interjected with bias into the classroom. There is only one way to solve this: Facts, cold hard, facts.

The problem has become so invasive to the learning environment that not only are the claims being made, but research is being done. That research continues to support the claims of the students that politics are invading the classroom; especially liberal political views.

While everyone is certainly entitled to their own views and free speech, the case can be made that a lack of professionalism on the part of educators is waning. So here are some facts to support that unheard appeals of students.

Politics in the Classroom: A Survey of Students at the Top 50 Colleges & Universities, October – November, 2004. Conducted for The American Council of Trustees and Alumni commissioned the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut (CSRA)

• Nearly half of college students (48%) from elite universities and colleges in the United States report that some panel discussions and presentations on their campus are totally one-sided.

• According to 46% of the student respondents, some professors use the classroom to present their personal political views.

• 68% of the students said that during the recent presidential election campaign, their professors made negative comments in class about President Bush, compared with only 17% who reported negative comments about Senator Kerry.

• 42% of the students surveyed complained that some course readings present only one side of a controversial issue.

• While nearly half of the students (47%) say that professors make negative comments in class about conservatives, only 15% report negative comments about liberals. 74% assert that their teachers make positive in-class remarks about liberals.

• Half of the students (49%) state that professors frequently comment on politics in class even when it has nothing to do with the course.

• More than 8-in-10 students (83%) say that faculty evaluation forms completed by students do not ask about a professor’s social, political, or religious bias.

Full Report