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Campaign Donations and CollegesUniversity Employees Donate Significant Funds to 2008 HopfulsThis article expands on a study conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics. The study found that university employees have donated over $7 million to '08 candidates.
The presidential election is still a year away, but college campuses are already mobilizing. A survey by the Center for Responsive Politics revealed that individuals who work in the higher education industry have given “more than $7 million to federal candidates,” in preparation for the 2008 election. According to a story published in Capital Eye in August, these individuals are “still ahead of big givers such as oil and gas, general contractors, the computer and Internet industry, electric utilities and the pharmaceutical industry.” The universities themselves are 501c3 nonprofit organizations and are forbidden from forming political action committees to make donations. But “university professors are among the best-educated voters in the country,” said Richard Parker, professor of public policy at Harvard University. “They have opinions on everything, from trade with China to the war. You can’t walk into a faculty lounge in this country without hearing about these issues.” The employees of Harvard University gave $266, 044 as of July 30, 2007. This total made them the leader in political fundraising. Rounding out the top three were the University of California with $248,488 and the College of William and Mary with $136,200. Massie Ritsch, communications director at the Center for Responsive Politics, called this amount of giving “a relatively recent phenomenon.” “We didn’t see a whole lot of activity until the 2004 presidential campaign, when college professors gave very heavily to Howard Dean and John Kerry,” Ritsch said. “That trend seems to be continuing, the apparent goal being to put a Democrat in the White House and maintain Democratic control of Congress.” Ritsch said that during the 2006 congressional election cycle, university employees gave a total of $19.3 million, with approximately 71 percent of those funds supporting Democratic candidates. In the 2004 presidential race, they donated $37 million, with approximately 78 percent of the funds going to Democratic candidates. “That’s not to say there are not conservatives on campus,” Ritsch said. “Business schools, law schools-these are the more conservative places on campus. You don’t see any liberal professors brainwashing students. 20-year-olds are generally not fond of adults telling them what to do or how to think, anyway.” Parker said his graduate students have followed their professors’ leads. “First, we’re located in Massachusetts, which is adjacent to New Hampshire. There are a lot of opportunities for students from Massachusetts colleges and universities to work in New Hampshire campaigns, stuffing envelopes and things like that,” he said. “It’s a small state, so there’s a lot of door-to-door retail that goes on for every candidate.” Ritsch said the early start of the 2008 campaign will lead to more contributions over its course. “We expect money to continue to flow very heavily through the end of this year,” he said. “Less than one percent” of the American population makes campaign contributions large enough to track, Ritsch said. Not only do the employees of Harvard contribute the most money to political campaigns, but Harvard University ranked second to Princeton in U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings for 2008. “The top-tier colleges tend to pay their professors best,” so they have more disposable income for donations, Ritsch said.
The copyright of the article Campaign Donations and Colleges in US Elections is owned by Lacey B. Lyons. Permission to republish Campaign Donations and Colleges in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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