Professors' donations trend Democratic
In 2009-10, 36 MU employees donated to Democratic candidates and one donated to Republicans.
Published Oct. 1, 2010
A recent study from the Center for Responsive Politics shows political endorsements from college professors trend toward Democratic candidates.
The CRP tracks where money in all forms at the federal level comes from and divides it into 120 different special interest areas, including education, CRP spokesman Dave Levinthal said.
“We basically just looked at all the data we had compiled and tried to make sense of it,” Levinthal said.
CRP’s report on college professors’ political donations for the 2009-2010 year is broken down into money donated to Democrats and Republicans and displays the total amount of donations as well.
Of the 51 colleges and universities included on the list, only Calvin College, a small college in Michigan, had more money donated to members of the Republican Party than the Democratic Party. MU was not was not included in the list.
Levinthal said it is not always clear why college professors donate to a specific party.
“Oftentimes they were very reluctant to say why,” he said.
According to political donor information from the Missouri Ethics Commission, of 128 donors in 2009-10 who listed MU as their employer, one donated $10 to a Republican candidate and 36 donated a total of $3,355.23 to Democratic candidates toward statewide elections in the 2009-2010 year. Other donations were made to either other political groups or nonpartisan candidates.
Donors who financed Democratic candidates included those who specialized in the subjects of sociology, social work, political science, biological engineering, health, education, biochemistry, public affairs and administration. The Republican donor was listed as working with financial aid.
The campaign for Kelly Schultz, a candidate in the state’s 21st House district, is one of the main groups benefiting from political donations from MU professors, as seen in the Missouri Ethics Commission’s records.
Schultz said this trend is because she attended MU for her bachelor’s degree in political science and her master’s degree in public administration and because she is a very strong supporter of the university. Schultz’s husband also teaches food animal medicine at the MU School of Veterinary Medicine.
MU political science professor Marvin Overby said overall, Missouri is a “purple” state, with a mix of Democrats and Republicans, but many professors at state universities tend to lean more Democratic because they believe the government should do more for higher education.
“As public sector employees, we tend to be more interested in what government does because what government does directly affects our paycheck,” he said. “Higher education has been under something of an assault in recent years, from both Republican and Democratic politicians. What you’re seeing perhaps is faculty becoming more politically involved to put some campaign money behind our interests.”
Overby also said political donations by professors could vary by school and department. Young Democrats of Missouri spokesman Thomas Bloom said he also thinks political donations from professors can be impacted by their academic disciplines.
“It’s pretty established that professors do tend to lean more to the left more often than not,” he said.
9:17 p.m., Oct. 3, 2010
Darrelle Edwards said:
Obvious results are obvious. Had one solitary class at Mizzou with a professor that was demonstrably conservative. Had at least a dozen demonstrate incredibly liberal tendencies.