Earlier this year, Florida became the first state to ban sociology courses from public university general education curricula, declaring the subject too “abnormal” to be part of students' basic education. It's a trend that other states are trying to emulate, including my home state of Nebraska.
As a sociology professor who teaches gender and sexuality at a leading state university in Nebraska, conservatives see my work as part of what Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA calls “the indoctrination of the left.” There is. To Kirk and those who share his views, conservative students need savings. They are an endangered species on American college campuses.
But unlike the conservative politicians, activists, and Ivy League students who wrote op-eds lamenting the isolation of conservatives in higher education, those of us who teach in public institutions believe that conservatives are strong and thriving here. I know what I'm doing.
Consider one helpful statistic from a new study released by the Public Religion Research Institute, where I am a public fellow on LGBTQ rights. Gen Z is overall more politically progressive than any other generation, but when it comes to measures of LGBTQ equality, Gen Z college students who identify as Republicans more conservative more than any other generation of Republicans. They are also more conservative than Gen Z adults who have not attended college.
This is not surprising given the conservative movement's obsession with both LGBTQ issues and college campuses. During a stop at Ohio State University on Turning Point USA's national tour last year, Kirk told the audience that one of the most dangerous threats to today's college students, and indeed to America as a whole, is the LGBT agenda promoted by higher education. he said.
Although Turning Point USA encourages chapters to be official “student groups,” they are not grassroots campus organizations. Between 2016 and 2022, his income rose from just over $4 million to nearly $80 million, according to public tax returns. We have a presence on more than 3,500 high school and college campuses in all 50 states.
When it comes to the question of who holds institutional power and influence in higher education, conservatives are largely getting their way. My university is anticipating significant cuts to its academic programs, similar to West Virginia University last fall and the University of Connecticut this spring. Like Florida and other states, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill this year that would eliminate tenure at my institution and pass the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Act, which includes the courses I regularly teach. It is considering legislation that would eliminate programs and curricula.
Despite conservative claims, there is no convincing empirical evidence that professors are censoring conservative students or trying to convert them into liberals. As Glenn Altshuler and David Wipman write in this publication, while it is true that college professors lean left in politics, “students do not come to college as empty vessels. Students do not come to university as empty vessels.Students do not come to university as empty vessels.Students do not come to university as empty vessels.Students do not come to university as empty vessels. “No. Students do not come to universities as empty vessels. University professors lean to the left in politics.” They have very strong political views on change. ” According to his PRRI research, most of his Gen Z teens belong to the same political party as their parents.
Sociology has been increasingly challenged by conservative dogma that denies the reality of social inequality, or claims that members of some groups are automatically in a position to have greater privileges or access to resources than other groups. I'll try. Furthermore, sociology teaches that categories that conservatives consider to be fixed and unchanging, such as gender, sexuality, and race, are constructed by society itself.
In my experience, Gen Z students do not automatically adopt a sociological perspective on gender and sexuality, and in fact, many students resist it. Some speak during class discussions and others during anonymous course evaluations at the end of the semester.
But many students, even staunchly conservative ones, find value and insight in my classes and others that make similar arguments. As sociologist Philip Cohen put it in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “sociological research remains important for addressing social problems, from job discrimination to housing insecurity to social isolation.” These are issues without political labels.
Gen Z Republicans and Democrats alike report that LGBTQ issues are important to them. According to PRRI, both groups are more likely than other Americans to vote for candidates in major elections only if they share their views on LGBTQ issues. Generation Z Democrats who attend college mirror the trends of Republicans, but in the opposite direction, reporting more progressive views on LGBTQ rights than Democrats of other generations. In other words, Gen Z college students tend toward both liberal and conservative extremes on these issues.
Although a larger percentage of Gen Z adults are Democrats (about 1 in 3), an estimated 6 million say they are Republicans (about 1 in 5 in this generation). A much larger number of her Gen Z voters, 43 percent, or an estimated 13 million, say they do not identify with either party.
It is a conservative myth that liberal professors are trying to eradicate conservatism among young people, but some liberals believe that young people are uniformly progressive and will be at the forefront of social change. promoting the myth of Gen Z college students, like the rest of America, are politically diverse and active in both conservative and liberal movements. This is a lesson that both the right and the left should remember.
Kelsey Burke is Associate Professor of Sociology At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, civil servant Public Religion Research Institute's LGBTQ Rights Study. Her views are her own and do not represent her employer, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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