Less than 6 percent of profs at Maine colleges are registered Republicans, report says
Registered Republicans only make up 5.49 percent of college professors in Maine, according to new analysis published by the Maine Wire on Oct. 2.
The analysis included campuses in the University of Maine system, as well as Bowdoin College, Colby College, Bates College, Husson University, St. Joseph’s College, and Thomas College.
A recent report notes the lack of conservative professors in the higher education system of Maine.
Registered Republicans only make up 5.49 percent of college professors in Maine, according to new analysis published by the Maine Wire on Oct. 2.
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Of the 2,222 college professors and lecturers investigated, registered Democrats amounted to 54.63 percent, followed by those not registered to vote (20.29 percent) and unaffiliated voters (16.28 percent).
The analysis included campuses in the University of Maine system, as well as Bowdoin College, Colby College, Bates College, Husson University, St. Joseph’s College, and Thomas College.
Each of the 15 institutions investigated during the analysis contained a significantly larger percentage of registered Democrats than registered Republicans. For instance, registered Democrats accounted for 80 percent of the staff at the University of Maine at Machias.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle had the largest percentage of registered Republicans, making up just 29.41 percent of its professors. On the other hand, the University of Maine School of Law does not include any registered Republicans, with 68.18 percent of professors being registered Democrats.
Despite many of these universities being publicly funded, the political affiliations of professors and lecturers do not reflect the political affiliations of registered Maine voters. As of January 2024, the percentages of registered Republican, Democrat, and unenrolled voters were split more closely: Democrats made up 36.2 percent, followed by Republicans at 29.5 percent and unenrolled voters at 28.8 percent.
Bowdoin College, which employs only 1.51 percent registered Republicans on its teaching staff according to the analysis, is offering courses this semester like “Black Heat, Black Cool: Theorizing Blackness” and “Queering International Relations,” which includes topics such as “gender and colonial legacies, global feminisms, imperialism and LGBTQ activism, freedom and agency from a comparative perspective, intersectionality, and queer of color critique.”
Bowdoin’s Director of Communications told Campus Reform that the school “does not take political affiliations and views into account when hiring professors and lecturers.”
The Office for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Maine, which reportedly features only 6.06 percent of registered Republican professors, advertises multiple training sessions on its website, including “Transforming Self for Racial Equity” and “Safe Zone Training.”
”It is the University of Maine System’s policy that we remain politically neutral at all times, with a rare exception made when endorsing ballot measures for capital or research bonds that directly benefit our public universities,” a spokesperson for the system told Campus Reform. “Our System fosters free inquiry and respectful, civil discourse among those with diverse viewpoints, including our faculty, staff and students. We do not monitor the party affiliation of our employees nor do we place limits on how our employees exercise their fundamental freedoms as private citizens.”
Disproportionately low percentages of registered Republicans in higher education were also reported by The College Fix in 2022. In a nationwide survey of seven universities, 61 Republicans were identified across 65 departments, compared to 667 Democrats; just over half of the 65 departments contained zero Republicans.
Campus Reform has contacted each school named for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
