Is your professor a Republican? Probably not

“Professors registered as Democrats outnumber those registered as Republicans by a ratio of roughly 12 to 1 at UNC Chapel Hill – and in 16 departments zero registered Republican professors can be found….

“The College Fix researched the party registrations of 1,355 Chapel Hill professors using the public voter database maintained by the State Board of Elections….

“Spokesman Jim Gregory said via email that the university ‘does not hire faculty based upon their political affiliation, but instead upon academic merit.

“ ‘That said, we also feel that it is important for students to be confronted with views that they may not agree with or have not previously been exposed to, which we believe leads to the development of critical thinking skills….

“ ‘Our primary effort is to ensure that our faculty, regardless of their backgrounds, are sensitive to and respectful of the various beliefs and viewpoints raised by each of their students,’ Gregory said, adding the university does attempt to ‘achieve a measure of diversity across all domains’ but described achieving a perfect balance as ‘extremely difficult.’ ”

— From “At UNC Chapel Hill, 16 departments have zero registered Republican professors, analysis finds” by Alec Dent at the College Fix (June 20)