Liberal UF?

Posted Aug 23, 2010 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Aug 23, 2010 at 12:29 PM

A group of self described “liberty-loving student activists” is challenging the University of Florida for its “liberal political bias.”

The group, CampusReform.org, is profiling all the top 100 universities in the country, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. UF is the only state university in that list.

What’s so liberal about UF? Its Office of Sustainability and minor in Sustainability Studies “demonstrate an ideological agenda,” said a news release from the group.

Also, “liberal student groups at the University of Florida outnumber conservative groups by 10 to eight.  The political leanings of university professors are similarly biased. Specifically, 83% of the school’s contributing faculty and staff gave their political donations to Democratic candidates.”

What’s behind this?

“America’s colleges and universities are dominated by liberals, and the University of Florida is no different,” said Morton Blackwell, president of the Leadership Institute and founder of CampusReform.org.  “Too often, the campus left uses its power to indoctrinate the next generation.”

Morton Blackwell, however, is no student - or if he is, he’s taking a long time to graduate. He started as a College Republican in the 1960s. He touts his credentials on the Leadership Institute website, saying he’s worked in politics for more than 40 years and trained more political activists than any other conservative.

CampusReform also profiled the private University of Miami.

“The faculty at the University of Miami have donated overwhelmingly to Democratic candidates. In the 2008 presidential election, 86% of contributing faculty and staff donated to Democratic candidates,” it says.

And, UM’s President Donna Shalala was the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration.