Closed Minds?: Politics and Ideology in American Universities

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Lounsbery Foundation of Washington, D.C., in supporting our work. Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University, a member of the Lounsbery Foundation’s board, originally suggested the idea for the study.We thank him and David Abshire, president of the foundation, and Maxmillian Angerholzer III, its executive director, for their encouragement and support. Rodney W. Nichols, adviser to the foundation, was a source of wise counsel and encouragement throughout the project. Allan Silver of Columbia University helped to point the effort in the right direction and provided helpful suggestions at critical points. Catherine E. Rudder of George Mason University was a stimulating colleague and advised us on a number of difficult methodological problems. James H. Finkelstein, vice dean of the School of Public Policy, George Mason University, ran interference for us over the course of the project. The University of Virginia’s Center for Survey Research administered our national survey and came up with innovative ways to ensure a high response rate and a representative sample (as we discuss more fully in the technical appendix on sampling). In particular, Thomas Guterbock, Debby Kermer, and John Lee Holmes were crucial to the success of our survey.We thank all of our academic colleagues from around the country who took the time to complete the survey and, in a number of cases, volunteered additional comments. Acknowledgments ix Special thanks are owed to Robert E. Calvert of DePauw University, whose own work helped to give shape and direction to our effort. He read the entire manuscript with great care and offered extensive and detailed suggestions for revisions that greatly strengthened our analysis. C. Peter Magrath of the College Board and former president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (as well as three major universities over the course of his career) read the manuscript in draft and offered a detailed commentary, which was of great assistance.An anonymous Brookings reviewer gave a pointed and useful critique of certain aspects of our work. We benefited from discussions with Richard D. Legon, president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges; Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education; Robert Andringa,former president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; Anne D. Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni; Roger Bowen, former executive director of the American Association of University Professors; Representative Gibson C. Armstrong of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives ; Dustin Gingrich, staff director of the Pennsylvania Select Committee on Academic Freedom; and professors Joseph J. Karlesky of Franklin and Marshall College,Clyde Wilcox of Georgetown University,Neil Gross of Harvard University , Matthew Woessner of Penn State Harrisburg, April Kelly-Woessner of Elizabethtown College, and Michael Munger of Duke University. To the many impressive students and dedicated college professors and administrators we interviewed, or with whom we discussed informally various aspects of the study, we give a general but heartfelt expression of our appreciation . It was a great pleasure to have the chance to talk with so many thoughtful and enjoyable colleagues.We almost wish the project could go on forever (and sometimes it seemed like it would!). We thank our students Gayatri Ramnath and Brian Hanlon for research assistance and Elizabeth Kelly of Duke University for her assistance. Marjorie Crow typed numerous drafts of the manuscript. Robert Faherty, Mary Kwak, and their colleagues at Brookings Institution Press were especially helpful and encouraging. x Acknowledgments ...