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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nDiversity in hiring is the top priority of most colleges and universities. However, the effort to hire more women, minorities, and LGBT individuals notably lacks one group: ideological diversity. It is well-known that most faculty are composed of an overwhelming majority of liberal and democratic members. However, this view, while generally accepted, is largely anecdotal. Now a\u00a0new study<\/a>\u00a0by Heterodox Academy Director of Research Sean Stevens and Brooklyn College Professor Mitchell Langbert claims to have put hard numbers on that lack of diversity. In reviewing records with the Federal Election Commission, they say that they found that professors gave to Democrats over Republicans by a 95:1 ratio.<\/p>\n The researchers looked at 2,301 political donations and found that 2,081 went to Democrats while just 22 went to Republicans. Only nine professors gave to both parties.<\/p>\n An earlier study\u00a0<\/a>found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a 10:4 ratio. Business Management Associate Professor Mitchell Langbert reviewed the party affiliations of 8,688 professors at 51 of the top 60 liberal arts colleges listed in U.S. News and World Report\u2019s 2017 rankings.<\/p>\n These studies magnify concerns for those of us who have objected to increasing speech regulation on campuses \u2014 restrictions that have seem to be more often applied to conservative students and speakers. Indeed, academics have at times been at the heart of such attacks on the free speech rights of conservatives on campus. In one incident at the California State University where\u00a0assistant professor of public health professor Greg Thatcher<\/a>\u00a0is shown on a videotape wiping out the pro-life statements written in chalk by members of\u00a0Fresno State Students for Life.<\/p>\n Perhaps\u00a0the most unnerving controversy involved<\/a>\u00a0the confrontation of\u00a0Feminist Studies Associate Professor Mireille Miller-Young<\/a>\u00a0with pro-life advocates on campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Miller-Young led her students in attacking the pro-life display, stealing their display, and then committing battery on one of the young women. \u00a0She was convicted and sentenced for the crime. \u00a0Despite the shocking conduct of Miller-Young and the clear violation of the most fundamental values for all academics in guaranteeing free speech and associational rights, the faculty overwhelmingly supported Miller-Young and the university decided not to impose any meaningful discipline. Faculty and student defenders attacked the pro-life advocates and one even referred to them as \u201cterrorists\u201d who did not deserve free speech. \u00a0Miller-Young should have been fired but was instead lionized by faculty and students.<\/p>\n