Are Community Colleges Less Activist?

A veteran professor who has taught in them claims they are. “Occasionally, we read about some left-wing extremist who turns out to be a community college faculty member (although that person is usually an adjunct, not a full-timer), but most of the professors making the news over their public behavior, intemperate classroom remarks, or ill-advised tweets are tenured (i.e., relatively protected) faculty at research universities,” Rob Jenkins writes in an essay distributed by the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. “In contrast, full-time community college faculty members typically teach five classes each semester, with 10 or 12 office hours a week on top of that and loads of grading (no graduate assistants).”

“They don’t have time to stage “protest” marches or tweet death wishes. (Just as a personal observation, in many parts of the country, community college professors also seem to be more conservative than their university counterparts. This is especially true in vocational fields.)”

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