j.r. leonard

wut? is? going? on?

OK, freakout over? Ready to keep going? Because we're not done yet. While the "liberal prof gives F to conservative student" theory is a myth, this isn't to say that partisanship doesn't have any effect on grading. It does. Just not in the way you might think.

Note that there are many possible explanations for the racial disparity besides discrimination (whether "positive" in the case of Dems or "negative" in the case of Reps). And note also that BOTH kinds of profs systematically give black students lower grades. Dems just do it less.

But it's not due to differences in student ability. That again gets controlled for via SAT score matching. (The report finds little partisan difference in grading for female vs. male students)

OKAY. What's the tl;dr of it all? First, to the liberals in the audience: I bet you're feeling pretty smug about now, right? Well, stop it. Yes, the conservatives-are-penalized theory is a myth, but that doesn't mean they don't face other challenges on campus.

As I said at the top of the thread, they are more likely than libs to self-censor. They are also less likely to be invited to socialize with profs out of class or be asked to collaborate on research projects. Lots of other ways. It can be rough out there. Faculty must do better.

Now to the conservatives in the audience: You probably think I'm some kind of leftwing hack. You're right! But I also tried to be as fair and transparent in this thread as possible, supplying you with all the citations and ungated sources.