It's common knowledge that liberal bias exists on American university campuses. I witnessed it firsthand in some political science and economics classes when I was a university student but shrugged it off and gave the professors the answers they wanted... On exams I'd usually answer the question as I saw fit but, in parenthesis, would write "But the answer you're looking for is..." and then give them the liberal or "correct" answer that would get me a decent grade.

Apparently things went beyond that at a Rhode Island college and a conservative is suing the school after he felt he was persecuted for his non-liberal beliefs.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,467626,00.html

A former student at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work is suing the school and several of his professors for discrimination, saying he was persecuted by the school's "liberal political machine" for being a conservative.

William Felkner, 45, says the New England college and six professors wouldn't approve his final project on welfare reform because he was on the "wrong" side of political issues and countered the school's "progressive" liberal agenda.

This will be an interesting case to follow. I think it's a high time that there be more neutrality and less bias in both the media and academia, and perhaps lawsuits are the only way to change it.

I was recently considering going back to the University of Colorado to further my education in economics. I went so far as to request my transcripts and enroll as a non-degree graduate student. I ultimately decided against it, however, for two reasons: 1) I felt that I could obtain the same knowledge by reading the relevant textbooks. Doing so would be both cheaper and faster; especially since the classes I had to take were in the early afternoon two days a week which would've meant reducing my billable hours that pay the bills in the "real world." 2) I didn't feel like wasting my time battling liberal economics professors with whom I'd be far less tolerant of than I was as a young adult. My time spent "battling" liberalism is better spent writing articles on this site and other endeavors than fighting against irrelevant economics professors at a university.

In fact, the main reason I was considering going back to the university wasn't so much to learn (since I can and do do that on my own) but rather to immerse myself in liberal beliefs to get a better understanding of where liberals are coming from. However, I ultimately decided that wasn't worth my time or money since I can accomplish that by reading liberal books and liberal commentary. I felt no motivation to pay for liberal indoctrination.

We've become complacent with liberal bias. We've just accepted it. As I wrote previously, I don't think whining about liberal bias is useful. But changing it is useful. And we can change it by making our conservative voices heard (by being vocal, or by voting with our dollars by canceling subscriptions to liberal newspapers and magazines and letting them know why we did so) or by taking direct action such as is the case with this lawsuit.

I'm generally not fond of lawsuits but it sure sounds like this person was persecuted for his ideology. And that should have no place in academia. Academia should be a place for learning... and the interest of learning is not served when the faculty actively tries to silence a viewpoint they don't agree. Perhaps the faculty needs to do some learning by being exposed to other viewpoints rather than ridiculing them.