Everyone knows by now that academia leans hard to the left—one benchmark found five liberal professors for every conservative, with the imbalance far worse at some elite schools. But as the Goldwater Institute’s Timothy Minella explains in a new Daily Wire op-ed, the issue isn’t that professors hold political views, it’s that universities increasingly treat their political activism as legitimate academic work.
A lack of ideological diversity would be bad enough on its own, writes Minella, Goldwater’s director of higher education. The bigger problem, he explains, is that too many academics “are engaging in bald-faced activism, seeking to change the world in an exclusively leftward direction rather than understand it.” But university faculty members are not paid “to conduct ‘research’ at taxpayer expense that is indistinguishable from the work of a political advocacy organization.” To fix higher education, especially at public universities, we need to get back to the basics—teaching.
That’s one reason why the Goldwater Institute has developed the American Higher Education Restoration Act, a model policy aimed at getting professors to teach more and to spend less time producing “research” that almost no one reads. The act is part of Goldwater’s ongoing commitment to returning the nation’s public universities to their proper purpose: educating students, advancing human knowledge and serving the entire public.
Read the Daily Wire op-ed here.
When state legislatures approve new bills, it shouldn’t be a secret what’s in them—Missouri’s constitution requires all bills to have “clear titles” just for this reason. But Missouri lawmakers are increasingly adopting ever-broader bill titles that don’t accurately let people know what the bills are about. That’s why the Goldwater Institute went to the Missouri Supreme Court this week to urge the justices to enforce legislative transparency.
Representing the nonprofit Article III Institute, Goldwater is challenging Senate Bill 754, a massive 2024 piece of legislation that includes more than two dozen unrelated provisions under the title “relating to public safety.” It is precisely the type of vague bill title Missouri’s constitution clearly prohibits; the clear title requirement states that “no bill shall contain more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”
“The people adopted this requirement because they recognize that what is expedient for the legislature is not always aligned with their own interests,” Goldwater Institute Director of Allied Litigation Dave Roland told the court. This was the ninth state supreme court in which Goldwater attorneys have stood up for individual rights and government transparency and accountability.
Read more here.
The November elections are just a few weeks away, which is why Goldwater Institute leaders have been on the front lines speaking to reporters, engaging in debates and informing voters about two key measures on Arizona’s ballot.
Proposition 142 will prohibit Arizona public agencies from promoting race-based policies or programs and end discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) course requirements at public universities. “Whether it’s contracting, education, employment, the same rules are going to apply to everybody. You’re going to get a fair shake based on your ability and your qualifications, not based upon your race or your skin color,” Goldwater Institute Director of Education Matt Beienburg told KTAR News in Phoenix.
Proposition 320 will require Arizona school districts that aren’t spending at least 60% of their operational dollars in the classroom to increase their share by half a percent each year. The purpose is to prioritize teacher pay over excessive administrative salaries, empty buildings and lavish trips for district leaders. Despite funding increases, Arizona school districts now spend only 52% of their budgets on instruction, down from 59% about two decades ago. “At the end of the day, Prop 320 asks a simple question, what should be the highest priority when school districts decide how to spend their money?” Chris Thomas, Goldwater’s director of legal strategy for education policy, said during a televised debate.
Arizonans have a great opportunity this fall to ensure that the state’s classrooms are well funded and to banish DEI from state agencies once and for all. The Goldwater Institute will continue to educate voters about these critical issues before and after the election.
Click here for more about Goldwater’s position on Arizona’s 2026 ballot measures.
