Liberals account for 86% of political speakers at UVM

A Campus Reform survey of official events at the University of Vermont has found that the public institution hosted only two conservative speakers during the 2016-2017 academic year.

The review looked at the university’s official event calendars (found here and here) and determined that 51 speakers either addressed controversial topics or were known for their political involvement, thus placing them within the parameters of the survey.

The events range from teach-ins on Inauguration Day to school commencement ceremonies, and while some speakers were experts in areas of public policy—mostly environmental issues or foreign relations—others were politicians speaking on non-partisan subjects.

[RELATED: Dems dominate commencements despite defeats at the polls]

As such, Campus Reform extensively researched each speaker’s political leanings and considered organizational affiliations, published opinions, and public statements when determining political leanings.

Notably, five speakers proved impossible to categorize definitively as “right” or “left” of center, and although several others took moderate stances, most of the speakers had clear political leanings.

Sam Mariscal, an employee of the Leadership Institute, and immigration expert Steve Camarota were the only two speakers with publicly evident right-wing, conservative, or libertarian tendencies who were invited to UVM’s campus in the past year.

[RELATED: Berkeley students plot to ‘shut down’ conservative speakers]

Meanwhile, the school hosted 44 left-of-center speakers—including renowned climate theorist Elizabeth Kolbert and James Fallows, a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter—who lectured on topics such as “Our Future in the Trump Administration,” “The Case for Open Borders,” and “Love and Resistance.”

This is the first in a series of reports on this subject matter from Campus Reform. A complete breakdown of political speakers at UVM can be found below:

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