One of the articles mentioned George Mason University with the adjective "conservative" in front of the name?
Ah, I don't know about that. I would have to see the article and context, etc. I do know that when it was first started, I forget exactly when, there was some discussion that it was deliberately staffing its faculty with more conservative types, at least in the social sciences, but I don't know that for certain, just rumours. But it sounded like the sort of a thing in which the University of Chicago economics department has a reputation for being a quite conservative department. Berkeley, for instance, had a reputation for several fairly liberal social science departments. Ken might know more about that.
As for Yale and Harvard, I can't think of any department with a reputation for staffing its program in political terms. I can think of disciplinary struggles that lead to certain staffing decisions--the Harvard soc department, for instance, converted to a numbers department and began staffing only counters for a while. I don't know how that project stands at the moment. If tek were still posting, he or his wife would know.
I also know there is a great struggle in political science departments around the country between rational action theory and comparative, historical, theoretical work. It frequently affects staffing. But these issues don't necessarily cut along political lines.
As for Yale, the social science departments are a mixed bag. But none, to my knowledge, have ever been staffed according to political criteria. |
