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Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
On 1, bull. shit. my dad was a professor at one of the preeminent universities in the nation (or so it considers itself). The department in which he had tenure came to be dominated by those of a certain viewpoint and approach to the subject. After gaining critical mass they essentially refused to tenure anyone without similar viewpoints, further entrenching their views.
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I think this happens much, much more at the preeminent universities, mainly because they get all the choice in the world as to who they hire. Pick of the litter. But the vast majority of people who go to college don't go to preeminent universities. (In fact, I saw an article today that preeminent universities are starting to have larger proportions of students from wealthy backgrounds, but that's a tangent.)
And, of course, there are preeminent universities that are known for being conservative (e.g. U of C law school as Ty said, and their econ program). If you want to learn econ from the commie perspective, you go to Harvard's econ dept. If you want to learn it from the market is always 100% right perspective, you go to Chicago. If you want to learn it without a big ideological bent, I bet a ton of lesser-known schools have a mix of people.
Also, I think there's a big divide between business programs, where many/most teachers are pretty damn conservative, and liberal arts programs. People who become lawyers tend to come from a liberal arts background, so they see the liberal stuff more. Especially on the coasts, I think.
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