The passing of William F. Buckley made me reflect on how fortunate we were that he did not pursue a career in academia. Not that there's anything wrong with academia. It's just thatone couldnever imagine him in an ivory tower. But maybe his career choice wasnot just coincidence (or Providence). A feature in the Chronicle of Higher Ed examines the work of a mixed ideology couple, the Woessners(he'sRepublican, she's a Dem) who found that--conservative complaints of a liberal monopoly notwithstanding--conservatives don't go into academic careers for others reasons. To wit:

"...the Woessners looked at differences in interests and personality. They found that in a variety of ways, conservative students were less interested than liberals in subject matter that often leads to doctoral degrees, and less interested in doing the kinds of things that professors spend their time doing.For example, liberal students reported valuing intellectual freedom, creativity, and the chance to write original work and make a theoretical contribution to science. They outnumbered conservative students two to one in the humanities and social sciences which are among the fields most likely to produce interest in doctoral study. Conservative students, however, put more value on personal achievement and orderliness, and on practical professions, like accounting and computer science, that could earn them lots of money.The Woessners also found that conservative students put a higher priority than liberal ones on raising a family. That does not always fit well with a career in academe, where people often delay childbearing until after they earn tenure.The research led the Woessners to conclude that if higher education wants to attract more conservatives to the professoriate, it should smooth the way financially, offering subsidized health insurance and housing for graduate students, and adopting family-friendly policies for professors."

Does this sound legit? And whatever the reasons, does this still lead, as those in the Anscombe Society and elsewhere might say, to liberal intellectual hegemony on campuses? And what can conservatives do about it? Or should they pursue Buckley's well-trod--and highly successful, I'd say--extramural intellectual path?