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Some new trustees at the University of Virginia are pushing for the university to collect information about the political views of the faculty and students, The Daily Progress reported.
At a Board of Visitors meeting Friday, Douglas Wetmore, who was appointed to the board by Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, last year, questioned why the university’s Diversity Dashboard does not include an assessment of student or faculty ideologies.
“How come we don’t have dashboards that track, for example, the political ideology of the faculty?” asked Wetmore. “Why wouldn’t we do that to try to convince ourselves that we have balance and that we’re serving the full range of needs from our constituents as a leading public university?”
Bert Ellis, also appointed last year, said he agrees with Wetmore’s suggestion and wants to see more “robust debates” at UVA that can only happen with a diversity of viewpoints and beliefs. “You can’t have those if everyone has the same views as you,” Ellis said. “It’s no fun to debate with people with the same opinions as you, which I rarely do.”
President Jim Ryan said diversity includes “the full spectrum of human attributes, perspectives, identities, backgrounds and disciplines.”
While Ryan said he is open to suggestions on ways to keep track of political affiliations among those at the university, he told the board that he has reservations about the “legal prohibitions” on inquiring about the political views of a prospective professor or student.
