UCLA student tackles liberal bias

UCLA student and nationally syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro spoke to Boston College students last Wednesday regarding liberal bias on college campuses as part of the BC Republicans' Collegiate Leadership Series.

Shapiro, a senior at UCLA, is no stranger to the spotlight. Having entered UCLA at age 16 Shapiro has made a name for himself as the conservative voice on campus, most evidently when he was the only dissenter at an affirmative action rally at UCLA that drew 1,500 supporters. At 20 years old, Shapiro has already penned his first book titled Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth, and came to BC last to discuss exactly that.

Shapiro focused on liberal bias in the professoriate, which he said prevents students from gaining a well-rounded, balanced education. He began his lecture by asking all the science majors in the audience to raise their hands. When three hands went up the air, he remarked "at least three of us here are actually learning something."

Along with anecdotal evidence Shapiro cited many statistics to support his argument that college professors are overwhelming liberal.

"Seventy-nine percent of college professors feel that George W. Bush is too conservative. Forty percent of college professors are in favor of slavery reparations. Sixty-five percent are against tax cuts," he said.

Conservative thinker David Horowitz, who has authored an "Academic Bill of Rights" calling for more conservative opinion on college campuses, has investigated the voting record of college professors at nationally respected universities - information Shapiro shared with the audience.

According to Horowitz's research, registered Democrats outnumber republicans 54 to three at Brown University, at UC Berkley 59 to seven at UC Berkely, at Stanford University 151 to 17, and at the University of California San Diego 99 to six, and at Chicago 45 to nine.

"However you may feel about David Horowitz, when he presents empirical date such as this, that's something that can't just be dismissed," said Shapiro.

Shapiro gave several specific examples to back up his claim that college professors are overwhelmingly liberal, such as an incident in which a political science professor at UCLA asked her students to listen to the song "Cop Killer" on rapper Ice-T's Body Count album.

"I got my 12 gauge sawed off. I got my headlights turned off. I'm 'bout to bust some shots off. I'm 'bout to dust some cops off," Ice-T raps in the song. "Cop Killa" was a source of controversy at the time because the Parents Music Resource Center was protesting the album's availability to young children.

Shapiro also criticized the way affirmative action programs play out at American colleges. Through affirmative action minority students with a 700 on their SATs are getting into top universities, he said.

To further his point, he described certain groups that are sponsored on college campuses, such as the South African Student Union of UCLA, the gay student union at UCLA, and METRA, which is the Chicano student group. These groups, Shapiro said, often take on radically liberal undertones that are not a group representation of it members, much less the student body.

"The charter for METRA calls for the conquering of the Southwest United States and bringing it back to Mexico. They advocate their ethnic cleansing for a bronze nation in the Southwest United States and they want to do so through violent means," said Shapiro.

"The head of the Muslim Student Association at UCLA actually justified suicide bombings and supports the Holy Land Foundation even after they were condemned by the United States as a terrorist sponsor," he continued.

Shapiro also pointed to the liberal bias in the college media, whether it is in the form of sex columnists or biased word choices on hot-button issues.

Despite this vast "liberal indoctrination," Shapiro said that conservative students are currently benefiting more than their more liberal counterparts. "Liberals are basically getting what they already know and what they already believe. If you're a conservative ... you're going to go there and hear the opposing point of view and it's going to make you smarter and it's going to make you more able to take on those arguments," he said.

Maggie Giorgio, an audience member and A&S '04, does not believe she is at a disadvantage.

"Yes, a lot of the teachers are liberal but they almost always play to the other side and I always had conservatives in my class and they always speak out and I really do get a dialogue," she said.

Shapiro responded by pointing out that if one can tell a professor is liberal by his or her arguments it is obvious the professor is not presenting the conservative view in a balanced fashion. Shapiro said that professors whose lecture style makes their party agenda seem ambiguous "those professors are going a great job."

So what should universities do? Shapiro recommends three possibilities: more conservative professors, more conservative guest speakers, or a genuine attempt by professors to adequately argue both sides.