Archive for the ‘Faculty Lounge’ Category

NYT: “Liberals, You’re Not as Smart as You Think”

May 17, 2018

… and even “Comedians are beginning to catch on”
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Yesterday, we posted results of a study that calibrated the lean-to-left at U.S. colleges.

The summary conclusion: 90% of faculty that self-declare a political affiliation are Democrat and almost 40% of liberal arts colleges are, for all practical purposes, Republican-free.

See Shocker: Vast majority of faculty at elite colleges are Democrats…

And, it’s commonly accepted that (I think) that Trump hating dominates the media and entertainment.

Nonetheless, Trump’s base of supporters remains loyal … and recently, the Democrats lead on the so-called “generic ballot” has shrunk by almost two-third to low single digits on average … and equal within the margin of error on some surveys.

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How can that be?

(more…)

Posted in Faculty Lounge, Persuasion, Politics | 1 Comment »

Shocker: Vast majority of faculty at elite colleges are Democrats…

May 16, 2018

Just how “vast” may surprise you. … there are even “clean sweeps” at some colleges
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Everybody knows that college faculties lean left.

To calibrate the incidence and intensity of the lean-to-the-left, Prof. Mitchell Langbert of Brooklyn College conducted a study and recently posted his findings with the National Association of Scholars.

Prof. Langbert surveyed  8,688 tenure track, Ph.D.–holding professors from 51 of U.S. News’ 66 top ranked liberal arts colleges.

Langbert’s top line findings: 40% of faculty self-report to be independents … the 60% who identify with a party are split 90% Democratic,10% Republican.

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Yep, about what you might expect.

But, things get more interesting when you drill down on the data …

(more…)

Posted in Academics - Research, Diversity, Faculty Lounge, Politics - General | 4 Comments »

Teachers with conservative views don’t make the cut.

February 2, 2018

Topic came up (again) in a post-class chat with students, prompting this HomaFiles flashback…

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GREAT article in the WSJ from MSB’s own John Hasnas – MSB Professor of Policy & Ethics: The One Kind of Diversity Colleges Avoid

His central point: When recruiting faculty, universities seek diversity by gender, race and nationality … but, not ideology.

In many instances, conservatives and libertarians need not apply.

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That conclusion probably doesn’t surprise many of you who already see the elephant in the middle of the room.

But, Prof. Hasnas provides some texture and “inside scoop”

Here are a couple of highlight snippets from the article … (more…)

Posted in Diversity, Education - Academics, Faculty Lounge, University policies | 1 Comment »

Teachers with conservative views don’t make the cut.

August 11, 2017

Topic came up in recent chats, prompting this HomaFiles flashback…

=======

GREAT article in the WSJ from MSB’s own John Hasnas – MSB Professor of Policy & Ethics: The One Kind of Diversity Colleges Avoid

His central point: When recruiting faculty, universities seek diversity by gender, race and nationality … but, not ideology.

In many instances, conservatives and libertarians need not apply.

image

=======

That conclusion probably doesn’t surprise many of you who already see the elephant in the middle of the room.

But, Prof. Hasnas provides some texture and “inside scoop”

Here are a couple of highlight snippets from the article … (more…)

Posted in Diversity, Education - Academics, Faculty Lounge, University policies | 1 Comment »

Teachers with conservative views don’t make the cut.

April 7, 2017

Topic came up (again) in a post-class chat with students, prompting this HomaFiles flashback…

=======

GREAT article in the WSJ from MSB’s own John Hasnas – MSB Professor of Policy & Ethics: The One Kind of Diversity Colleges Avoid

His central point: When recruiting faculty, universities seek diversity by gender, race and nationality … but, not ideology.

In many instances, conservatives and libertarians need not apply.

image

=======

That conclusion probably doesn’t surprise many of you who already see the elephant in the middle of the room.

But, Prof. Hasnas provides some texture and “inside scoop”

Here are a couple of highlight snippets from the article … (more…)

Posted in Diversity, Education - Academics, Faculty Lounge, University policies | Leave a Comment »

Hasnas: Teachers with conservative views don’t make the cut.

April 4, 2016

GREAT article in the WSJ from our own John Hasnas – MSB Professor of Policy & Ethics: The One Kind of Diversity Colleges Avoid

His central point: When recruiting faculty, universities seek diversity by gender, race and nationality … but, not ideology.

In many instances, conservatives and libertarians need not apply.

 

image

=======

That conclusion probably doesn’t surprise many of you who already see the elephant in the middle of the room.

But, Prof. Hasnas provides some texture and “inside scoop”

Here are a couple of highlight snippets from the article … (more…)

Posted in Diversity, Education - Academics, Faculty Lounge, University policies | 2 Comments »

From the faculty lounge: False Positives

March 23, 2012

Punch line: Sometimes, published academic research results are flat out wrong.  Hmmm.

Excerpted from HBR’s Daily Stat: Researchers Can Easily “Prove” False Findings
 
Using legitimate statistical analyses, researchers were able to show in an experiment that participants were nearly 1.5 years younger after listening to the Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” than after listening to a song that comes with the Windows 7 operating system …

… an obviously ridiculous finding that demonstrates how easy it is for research to yield “false positives,” say Joseph P. Simmons and Uri Simonsohn of The Wharton School and Leif D. Nelson of UC Berkeley.

Too often, researchers aren’t aware of the high likelihood of finding false evidence, and the pressure to publish leads scientists to convince themselves of the validity of their findings, the authors say.
 
Source: False-Positive Psychology : Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

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Posted in Academics - Research, Faculty Lounge | Leave a Comment »

Overheard in the faculty lounge … re: the Target flap.

March 6, 2012

By now, everybody has heard how Target mines data on shoppers to ID when they’re approaching life events — e.g. having a baby — that make them “vulnerable to marketing initiatives.”

The reaction of many marketers seems to be: “why aren’t we doing that?”

The reaction of shoppers is predictably negative: “Invasion of privacy”, “manipulative”, “creepy”.

The reaction in the faculty lounge is interesting.

Background: a branch of marketing studies consumer behavior … how and why consumers think and act … why they pick one brand over another, etc.

There seems to be concern among some academic CB researchers that their findings are  being hijacked by evil profiteers, to the disadvantage of the masses:

Consumer behavior research clearly helps the stores in the “attack” on the consumer. Does CB help in the development of the “defense” of the consumer?

One colleague sought to allay any pangs of guilt:

The “consumerism” defense is that the findings can be used to benefit both producers and consumers.

Any way, as [a famous consumer researcher] used to argue “the effects we study are so small in the real setting that any harm done is minimal.”

Now, that’s a rallying cry for you …

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Posted in Academics - Research, Faculty Lounge | 1 Comment »