analyze: The taxpayer-funded Truman Fellowship overwhelmingly selects center-left students, and when asked why, conservatives have mixed answers.
According to ten years of data, only about 6 percent of Truman scholarship recipients are conservative or center-right. College revision.
However, opinions remain divided as to why this is so.
The Truman Scholarship adviser at the University of Dallas called his experience “a very positive one.”
“I don’t think there is any bias whatsoever in the students who are selected as part of the process I am involved in,” said Professor Charles Sullivan. correction Via email.
Sullivan said the scholarship may seem biased because of the interests and tendencies of conservative students.
“To have an opportunity like Truman’s, the project has to have a community or public service dimension,” said the Catholic University adviser. correction.
“For a conservative college like ours, this is problematic because our more active students tend to be more partisan (and Truman is nonpartisan),” Sullivan said. “I believe the Truman Fellowship is a good fit for students who identify as conservatives, so if conservative students are involved in community service, Truman can support them.”
He said correction According to him, the University of Dallas has produced one winner and one finalist, a success rate of about 25%. Sullivan said the university produces an average of one candidate per year, but in 2024, there will be no candidates.
He said the success rate was “quite impressive” given the rigor of the applications and the quality of student applicants. He also noted that Truman provides feedback on applications and generally agrees with the reasons why the fellowship did not select an applicant.
Sullivan said correction From his experience as a counselor, he has found that some conservative students have a hard time seeking help.
“Our students also tend to come from very humble, very religious backgrounds and are reluctant to ask for recommendations from prominent individuals,” he said. “Probably my most difficult task as an advisor is to convince potentially qualified students that they should seek recommendations for worthwhile work, especially if such recommendations will help them continue their careers.”
Sullivan also cited other reasons for the lack of conservative applicants.
“The application process is rigorous, and in my experience, not everyone who starts will finish. But it’s much, much, much better to have everyone go through the same rigorous process,” he wrote in an email.
He also noted that bias among conservative faculty and the university's own interests could influence the number of conservative candidates.
“I don’t think the university administration is particularly interested in promoting prestigious scholarships and fellowships at the moment. They’re probably more interested in keeping enrollment at a level that makes the university financially viable,” he said.[T]Of course, much depends on the attitude of the faculty adviser. If the faculty adviser assumes Truman is somehow biased and makes little effort, there will be little interest and little success.”
“I think a conservative faculty could make that kind of summary judgment,” he said. “I didn’t.”
Former Education Official Says Truman Fellowships Have 'Systemic' Bias
The former deputy assistant secretary for higher education said at the Truman Fellowship that there was “a major and systemic leftist bias that must be eradicated.”
“The Truman Foundation officially recruits ‘change agents,’ which has a huge bias toward liberal and progressive candidates,” Adam Kissel wrote in an email. correctionHe currently works on higher education issues at the Heritage Foundation.
“The program gives special privileges to those who plan to turn to 'advocacy'. Applicants must want to enter the left-leaning public service,” he said.
“Successful applicants appear to be more likely to come from prestigious universities with extreme left-wing bias,” he said.
“One of the sample responses from this program is about ‘income inequality.’ For these and other reasons, I am not surprised that the Truman Fellowship is so uneven.”
Kissel said the Truman Scholarship also had a bias toward degree attainment.
“This program privileges applicants pursuing MPA/MPP, JD, MEd, MIA, MSW or MPH degrees, which are heavily biased toward the left,” he said. “Pursuing an MBA is disqualifying. The federal government should not be funding the Truman program. Congress should stop privileging so-called public service jobs over other workers who benefit society.”
“The Foundation does not give preference to candidates pursuing an MBA or MD unless they demonstrate a strong public policy or public health benefit,” the memo to advisers page states.
Fellowships, Responding to Concerns about Bias and Small-Scale Problems on College Level
One small college said the process required too much effort.
“About nine years ago, we nominated a candidate who was not selected. It was a lot of work for an unexpected result,” Jeffrey Thornhill, Truman’s adviser at Patrick Henry College, wrote in an email. correction.
Meanwhile, some conservative colleges are completely unaware of the $30,000 scholarship, said a spokeswoman for Franciscan University in Steubenville. correction As far as he knows, the school is not involved, he said. He said the university is unaware of the program.
correction We reached out to other conservative colleges and universities to ask about their experiences with the program. Brigham Young University expressed interest in responding but has not yet provided comment. Grove City College, Benedictine College, Ave Maria University, Wheaton College (IL), Liberty University, Belmont Abbey College, and the University of Notre Dame did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
correction I emailed the Truman Fellowship Director to ask for his thoughts on the challenges faced by small colleges and the inequities among recipients.
“We have long been sensitive to the challenges faced by small and under-resourced schools in supporting Truman Scholarship candidates,” Terry Babcock-Lumish wrote in an email. correction. “We work extensively with organizations such as the National Association of Fellowships Advisors to facilitate information sharing and reduce barriers to entry.”
She previously worked in the Clinton White House and helped Al Gore write two books. Her consulting clients include the Gates Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative.
“We have a lot of information available online for everyone to use. We also participate in a mentoring program that allows schools that have less experience with the annual competition to be paired with more senior advisors for technical assistance,” Babcock-Lumish said. “The Truman Scholars themselves are also active in helping applicants.”
“There is always more work to be done, but my staff and I are very open to helping new schools along the way. We believe this will produce tangible results. Almost every year, a Truman Scholar is discovered for the first time at a school. In 2024, there were three new institutions, and in 2023, there were six.”
Babcock-Lumish said the selection process was based solely on the applicant's commitment to “public service” and “leadership potential.”
“The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation’s rigorous selection process is based solely on an applicant’s demonstrated commitment to public service, leadership potential, and academic excellence,” she wrote.[T]The Truman Foundation encourages participation from anyone committed to purposeful and patriotic leadership.”
She did not respond to follow-up emails. correction I ask whether the Foundation intends to investigate these inequities.
The two Republican members of the Truman board did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls asking whether they planned to investigate the inequities. The offices of Senators Jerry Moran and Kay Granger both ignored multiple requests for comment.
But other Republicans demanded answers.
Republicans 'alarmed' by 'extreme partisan bias'
“We are alarmed that an award that purports to be nonpartisan should display such a starkly partisan bias,” wrote Virginia Fox, Robert Eiderholt, and Burgess Owens in a letter to the Truman Fellowship.
“As you know, the Truman Foundation was established by Congress and is funded by taxpayers for the purpose of ‘awarding scholarships to individuals who demonstrate exceptional potential for public service and who plan to pursue a career in public service,’” they wrote in the letter. “We reject the notion that only progressive students demonstrate ‘exceptional potential’ for public service.”
In their letter they said:[n]From 2021-23, not a single laureate expressed an interest in causes such as protecting the rights of the unborn or defending the Second Amendment. “In contrast, the foundation has selected at least 74 laureates who have expressed an interest in progressive causes.”
The letter ends with a series of questions “to assess the effectiveness of the Truman program,” such as “How do you ensure that Truman finalist selection committee members and local review committee members do not discriminate against conservative students?” and “What steps are you taking to recruit a more ideologically diverse candidate pool?”
Babcock-Lumisch disputed the findings cited in the congressional letter and criticized the methods used.
“You can’t know an applicant’s ideological orientation unless they clearly share it during the application and interview process,” she wrote.
“If we witness discrimination, whether it is viewpoint-based or not, we will stop it immediately.”
A spokesperson for the Education and Workforce Committee said: correction Babcock-Lumish's letter “downplays legitimate concerns,” the email said.
“Dr. Babcock-Lumisch’s letter did little to allay the Committee’s fears, downplaying legitimate concerns about partisan bias in the Truman program. It is clear that this is an issue the Committee will continue to monitor.”
more: Truman Scholarship Awarded Overwhelmingly to Progressive Students for 10th Consecutive Year
Image: Truman Scholarship Foundation
Read more
good night College revision On Facebook / Follow us on Twitter