When I finished evaluating our State’s public universities, I thought there might be a more balanced perspective on politics and education when I got to the private schools. After looking at the State’s public research universities, I was looking for a port in a storm, a glimmer of hope. I should have realized that two things align with our public universities and colleges.
First, the teaching profession now attracts liberals more than it attracts conservatives, and our private schools have trended in the same direction. Second, I forgot about Emory University, perhaps the most liberal major university in the Southeast. Emory falls into the private group for evaluation and overwhelms those numbers. Emory is so liberal that it also overwhelms the public school donations. At Emory, they not only give more, but 89% of all donations go to Democrats (liberals). Emory is well endowed, far left, and has the money to influence elections through its faculty and classrooms.
Private Colleges
Data on all private universities is not available, but it is available for a significant number. They all take tax dollars in some form, from grants to scholarships to student loans. Many look and act like government agencies, with just a small wink and nod to their private status.
We located donation information on thirteen of Georgia’s twenty-four private colleges and universities. Across this group, eighty-six percent of all donations went to Democrats. While this figure is lower on a percentage basis than public universities, Emory’s bias in dollar donations skews the contributions heavily. Over the twenty-five years of data provided on OpenSecrets.org, combined giving to Democrats by the top three public research universities totaled $5,095,881. Emory alone donated $7,467,743. All private universities donated $8,346,875 to Democrats. This giving dwarf the $1,337,613 given to Republicans over this same period. The relative percentage given to Democrats might be slightly lower, but the dollars speak for themselves.
Emory alone is on track to donate $12 million to democrats in this decade, while the private universities collectively will donate $14 million. We should note that there are several historically Black universities in this group where contributions exceed 99.5% to Democrats. However, the dollar totals at these schools are insignificant compared to Emory.
Only two colleges in Georgia tilt toward Republicans, Covenant College, and Shorter College, both in the northwest corner of the State, a conservative area. But their dollar contributions are insignificant to the total. There are some other smaller colleges and universities in conservative areas, but there were no figures on their giving, and it is unlikely that they would shift the totals.
The Decade Picture and Trends
Looking at the donations by decade for private colleges and universities, the takeover of liberal faculty is just as obvious as it is with public schools, but Emory University exaggerates it.
If you are looking for a balanced education, it is not there if political contributions reflect the opinions and biases of each school. The apparent push on college campuses to defeat President Trump in the 2020 election drove a lot of giving and prejudice. One can only wonder what the rhetoric in the classrooms would have been.
The Whole Political Shift Picture
All parents should be concerned about the combined public and private picture of campus political bias. Nothing remains the same forever, and a decade from now, these campuses could swing toward conservative support. The same issues will exist without some desire to present a more balanced view of our world.
When one combines donations from faculty at our public and private universities, the picture becomes alarming for balanced instruction. In their quest to defeat President Trump, they donated almost $5 million to Democrats in 2020. The cumulative donations favoring Democrats over the 1990 to 2024 period approached $15 million, compared to slightly less than $3 million to Republicans.
We would hope that faculty can keep their bias out of the classroom, but visible unrest on campuses, reminiscent of the 1960s, would speak to extreme bias.
Public and private universities will contribute more than $20 million to campaigns in this decade. Congress and President Trump are right in their decisions to hold these universities and their administrations accountable. So far, only Harvard, with its multi-billion-dollar endowment, has said “no.” It is time for parents and students to stand up and vote with their wallets and feet.
Harvard alone may have the resources to stand in this storm and defy the Federal Government, but I doubt they can withstand the combined pressure of the government, major donors, and students. So far, the threat of withholding a total of $9 billion has not changed their stance. Harvard relies on the old standby excuse for freedom of speech. But endorsing antisemitism, campus violence, Marxist ideologies, and anti-American stances does not stand up to that analysis, in my opinion.
Based on the actions of most, if not all, of our major colleges and universities, students are highly indoctrinated and lightly educated. The children and grandchildren of the 1960s students are headed down the same dead-end path. This path is being challenged, and it is vital to understand the stakes and to stand against these schools and their administrations bravely
Next and Last Look
Our final look into the colleges and universities in Georgia will be to compare the political bias against the most notable schools in the nation. How does Georgia stack up against the most newsworthy?
Up next – A look at major Georgia universities and how they stack up against those in the news.
The Balanced Education Myth 1
The Balanced Education Myth 2
The Balanced Education Myth 3
The Balanced Education Myth 4
The Balanced Education Myth 5
The Balanced Education Myth 6
Resources and Further Reading
Agnes Scott College, agnesscott.edu, Last accessed February 6, 2025.
Andrew College, andrewcollege.edu, Last accessed February 6, 2025.
Berry College, go.berry.edu, Last accessed January 30, 2025.
Brenau University, brenau.edu, Last accessed January 31, 2025.
Brewton-Parker College, bpc.edu, Last accessed January 31, 2025.
Clark Atlanta University, cau.edu, Last accessed February 6, 2025.
Covenant College, covenant.edu, Last accessed February 7, 2025.
Emory University, emory.edu, Last accessed February 7, 2025.
LaGrange College, lagrange.edu, Last accessed February 8, 2025.
Life University, life.edu, Last accessed February 6, 2025.
Luther Rice College & Seminary, lutherrice.edu, Last accessed February 8, 2025.
Search of Specific Colleges and Universities, BestColleges, bestcolleges.com, Last accessed February 8, 2025.
Technical College System of Georgia,
Note
The information in these articles on the Balanced Education Myth was developed using the data readily available on the website opensecrets.org. Not all colleges can be found on this website, indicating they had no donations or omissions by OpenRecords.org or their data sources. However, we believe their records to be either complete or as complete as possible.
It is possible for a conservative faculty member to bypass the data collection process by donating through a spouse or other source. Given the consistency of the data across all colleges and universities we believe this to be a minor source of error if at all.
