(The Daily Progress) The University of Virginia could become the first major institution of higher education in the entire country to start publishing the political donations of its faculty and staff if some of the ideas floated by members of its governing body are adopted.
What they will find from already publicly available information is something that is already a well-known fact. At UVa, like at almost every college across the country, professors and administrators tend to be more liberal than the average American.
What is not known is how UVa, or any university, could use data on donations to make decisions. Will it cause them to hire or fire specific faculty? No one will say.
Much like calls to track student and faculty political and religious affiliation, UVa itself has been tight-lipped, only raising doubts about the practicality of either proposal and reinforcing the school’s commitment to diversity.
We should look and see does this looks diverse to us,” Douglas Wetmore, one of the more conservative members of the Board of Visitor said at a June 2 meeting, referring to the political diversity of faculty. “Maybe we got good diversity, and we just don’t realize it. Maybe we don’t and maybe it is uneven, and we need to make some adjustments.”
