Across the country, journalists have missed one of the biggest stories of the 21st Century – the transformation of slightly left-leaning, but largely apolitical state universities into overwhelmingly leftist engines of partisan politics.
Consider the numbers: In Blue states, take California for instance, they have transformed into a source of political cash in federal elections that rivals super PACs in their ability to shower campaigns with cash. In 2020, University of California faculty and administrators gave $28.5 million to political candidates; more than 97% went to Democrats, nearly $9 million just to Joe Biden’s campaign and PACs that supported him. That’s up roughly 4,000% since the year 2000. Back then, the still left-leaning university system gave 20% of its cash to Republicans, not 2%.
California newspapers and TV stations have run zero stories on this transformation of public schools from political footnote to, well, whatever you call it when political spending by far-left public employees goes up nearly 4,000%.
Now, consider California’s opposite, say Nebraska, a state that is Republican, rural, and a little short on the tech start-up culture. In the year 2000, the University of Nebraska system was less than a footnote in politics. Total political giving by faculty and staff back then was $31,800 split 60% for Democrats and 40% for Republicans. By 2020 it had grown to $869,000 or more than 2500%, with 92% going to Democrats.
Nebraska’s newspapers such as the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal-Star as well as its TV stations and other media have missed the story. They haven’t covered it once that I can find.
To put it in perspective Nebraska’s Farm Bureau gave about $20,000 in 2020. That’s 1/43rd of the giving by the University of Nebraska’s liberal professors.
Look at it another way. In 2020, the University of Nebraska faculty and administrators were the 4th largest giver in the state after Sandhills Global, Werner Enterprises, and Herbster Angus Farms. They’d be third if you counted donations from the University of Nebraska Medical Center doctors.
While 2020 was the year for peak spending (primarily because of the Democratic primary that year), the pattern of heightened spending and increased partisanship continued in 2022 and 2024. We can expect it to peak again in 2028 when there will again be open Democratic primaries.
And it doesn’t matter where you look, the pattern is the same. University of North Carolina. University of Michigan. University of Texas. University of Washington. Go to OpenSecrets.org and check out your school.
And while the press has been oblivious to this partisan transformation funded by billions in hijacked state tax dollars, the public has taken notice of the propaganda mills their state schools have turned into.
Those with a great deal or quite a lot of trust in universities have plummeted over that time from 57% in 2015 to 31% in 2026 according to polling from FIRE.
The number of Americans who think higher education is “very important” has fallen by more than 40 points, from 75% in 2010 to only 35% in 2025 according to Gallup.
Today, the University of Nebraska, like schools around the country, is facing another round of budget cuts. The federal government run by Donald Trump has become far less generous with the grants. Schools are facing hard times.
Yale’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education concluded that, “we must be willing to admit where we have been wrong.” Maybe a place to start is by admitting that the transformation of public schools into a partisan tool has to end.
As for the press which has missed this story completely. This isn’t rocket science. This is all in the Federal Election Commission’s non-partisan database. I’ve been using it to tell stories about politics since I was an intern in 1995. You guys might want to look into it.
I bet there are more stories about our universities waiting in there for you to tell. Here’s one hint – Want to know who has fueled the Democratic Party transformation into a home for Democratic Socialism? Try following the university money flowing to Bernie Sanders and AOC. What are those professors teaching our kids?
David Mastio is a Papillion resident and a former National Columnist for The Kansas City Star and Deputy Editorial Page Editor of USA TODAY.
Two very important points are being overlooked here: the public's decreased trust in our higher education institutions and the decrease in the public's feeling that higher education is important. Decreased funding is a logical end point when there is a decrease in public support/approval of an entity/program.
Speaking as a UNL emeritus faculty member, I can certainly testify that over the 30 years I was on the faculty, the faculty moved dramatically far to the left. The same is true at almost every other university. It is not possible to teach a subject that has any sort of controversial political content without introducing one's own biases. The situation has become so extreme that I despair that the faculty and the administration can reform themselves. There will have to be a very strong outside force that demands change.