EXCLUSIVE REPORT: 100 percent of college admin, faculty in Maxine Waters' district gave to Dems
A Campus Reform analysis has found that an overwhelming majority of faculty and administrators at colleges in Maxine Waters’ California congressional district (CA-43) contributed financially to Democrat candidates and causes from 2017-2018.
The analysis found that 100 percent of college administrators and 100 percent of faculty in D-CA 43 donated to Democrat candidates or causes. Out of all colleges, only one staff member reviewed donated to a Republican organization, specifically, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
In total, CA-43 higher education employees donated $20,659.02 from 2017-2018. Of that amount, 99.64 percent went to Democrat politicians or Democrat organizations.
The colleges analyzed by Campus Reform include Pepperdine University, Otis College of Art and Design, El Camino Community College, Los Angeles Southwest College, and the University of West Los Angeles. While there are more colleges located in Waters’ district, only colleges with publicly available donor data are listed.
Colleges in Waters’ district were identified through several key-word searches and map overlays. In the event a college in Waters’ district was a branch of a larger institution headquartered outside of the district, only donors who specified the branch within the district as their employer were considered in the data pool.
Campus Reform analyzed the donation records of college employees from 2017-2018, using publicly available records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), in order to determine the political leanings of faculty and administrators at the college.
According to a Campus Reform analysis, 100 percent of all administrators who donated to political candidates or causes gave a total of $6,899.90 to Democrat politicians or Democrat organizations, such as the Act Blue and Sri Preston Kulkarni’s congressional campaign.
According to the records, there were no donations made by administrators or faculty members to Republican politicians or Republican organizations from 2017-2018.
In total, CA-43 higher education employees donated $20,659.02 from 2017 to 2018. Of that amount, 99.64 percent went to Democrat politicians or Democrat organizations, while just 0.36 percent of the donations were made to Republican politicians or Republican organizations.
Thirty-six faculty members in the district donated a total of $10,431.69 to politicians or political organizations. They contributed 100 percent of the money to Democrat politicians or organizations.
For the purposes of this data, Campus Reform defined “faculty” as employees of the college that have direct instructional contact with students, such as professors, teachers, and instructors. “Administrators” were defined as employees who manage programming or are responsible for students and faculty, such as department chairs, deans, presidents, and provosts.
Campus Reform sorted individual donors using their stated position at the college. For example, if the individual donor noted that they were a “professor of literary theory,” they were designated as a faculty member. If an individual noted that they were employed as an “executive director,” they were designated as an administrator. In the event an employee’s title was ambiguous and could not be confirmed, they were marked as a general employee, but not sorted into faculty or administration categories. Campus Reform used a variation of keyword searches to cull data specific to colleges within the 43rd District in California.
Campus Reform used the most recent FEC donor records from Jan. 1, 2017 to Oct. 22, 2018.
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