Republicans in Academe

Re “Why Academia Shuns Republicans,” Commentary, Dec. 10: By far the major reason for the shortage of Republicans as professors at universities is the incestuous hiring practices at the universities. By nature, academia became highly populated with idealists, who tend to be Democrats. The hiring practices of the idealists have been to hire those who mirror their beliefs. Jonathan Chait is trying to make a case that Democrats are more intelligent than Republicans. Knowing how far Chait leans to the left leads me to believe that his own example belies that fact.

Norman Shubert

Westlake Village

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As an ardent liberal in the University of California, I must say I was intrigued by the title of Chait’s article. However, I was appalled by his stereotyping of Republicans. The baseless insinuation that to all conservatives “a Wall Street salary” is more valuable than “a life of the mind” is the type of thinking that is driving the red and blue division in our nation. Chait failed to recognize the merit of the work of the abundant conservative think tanks across the country for their colossal contributions to the Bush Doctrine and Donald Rumsfeld’s and Dick Cheney’s Project for a New American Century. He also neglected to mention that his cited studies show far more conservatives in the rigorous academic fields, such as economics.

Tristan Reed

Irvine