USA Today quoted a study co-authored by Assistant Dean of Faculty for Institutional Research Gordon Hewitt in an article titled “Crossing party lines: Individual decision or university influence?” on the publication’s college website. The study, titled “Indoctrination U.? Faculty Ideology and Changes in Student Political Orientation” appeared in PS: Political Science & Politics in October 2008.
Hewitt, with former Hamilton government professor Mack Mariani, analyzed changes in student political attitudes between their freshman and senior years at 38 colleges and universities from 1999 to 2003. They found that, on average, students shifted somewhat to the left — but that these changes were in line with shifts experienced by most Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 during the same period of time. In addition, they found that students were no more likely to move left at schools with more liberal faculties.
The article appeared on Feb. 23. Other news organizations including The New York Times, the Associated Press and InsideHigherEd have referenced this study in earlier articles.
