In the days leading up to the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama buttons and T-shirts nearly overtook campus as the fashion du jour. But those looking to hold professors responsible for the overwhelming popularity of the Democratic candidate find themselves increasingly at odds with research on where students’ beliefs originate.

Ellen Jensby, Wichita third year law student, said that by the time students reach the university level, they have already formed their political beliefs.

“I think, at this point, we’re pretty much set in our ways,” Jensby said.

That attitude was supported by two recent studies accepted by “PS: Political Science & Politics,” the quarterly journal of the American Political Science Association. Researchers found that the political leanings of professors had no measurable influence on the political attitudes and opinions of their students.

The article “Indoctrination U.? Faculty Ideology and Changes in Student Political Orientation,” published in the journal’s October issue, examined almost 7,000 students at 38 institutions of higher learning and found that students’ political views were not swayed by their professors’ political leanings. A second study, which reached similar conclusions, is slated to run in the journal’s April 2009 issue.

Alan Cigler, professor of political science, said that while he was familiar with the conventional wisdom of “liberal indoctrination” on college campuses, he was not surprised by the results of the recent studies.

“We live in an era when people are suspicious of institutions,” said Cigler, who has taught at the University since 1970. “Much of the talk is about media bias, and you saw it with the presidential election. Well, universities are institutions, too, and there’s just a general suspicion that because the faculty tend to be overwhelmingly Democrat that somehow there is this deliberate attempt to indoctrinate people.”

Cigler said a body of research already existed that suggested students weren’t especially affected by their professors’ beliefs.

“It comes down to values,” Cigler said. “You certainly can affect the students’ ideas about who important candidates are, or what major policy issues are, but it would be very, very difficult to actually change people’s minds about their values. They’re simply too ingrained.”

Cigler also dismissed the notion that students were particularly vulnerable to being subconsciously manipulated.

“People know when people are trying to force values on them,” Cigler said.

Hannah Britton, associate professor of both women, gender and sexuality studies and political science, said that she avoided issues of bias in her classes by not narrowing students’ discussions to arbitrary right-or-wrong arguments.

“We never ask students to see two sides of the story,” said Britton, a recipient of a 2008 Kemper Award for Teaching Excellence. “We ask them to see eight sides of the story. The idea is to make sure they have the room to explore the intellectual merits of multiple perspectives. I think that’s the training we’ve all been given, and it’s something we believe.”

Britton identified the idea of indoctrination at public institutions as a “societal myth.”

Actual incidents of indoctrination at the University seemed to be in short supply among students.

Mandy Shriwise, Overland Park senior, said that she typically felt challenged, rather than directed, by professors when it came to her own preconceived notions.

“They definitely encourage students to examine their beliefs,” Shriwise said. “To look at their thoughts and make difficult decisions ­— that’s been huge in an election year.”

Israel Interiano, Wichita graduate student, said that in his coursework this semester, political parties had essentially been presented as hypothetical catalysts for the future of U.S. tax code, the subject of Interiano’s graduate work.

“My professors basically say, if the Republicans remain in office, this is what will happen. If the Democrats come into office, this is what will happen,” Interiano said. “It’s not to influence us — it’s just ‘this happens’ or ‘that happens.’”

Jensby said that the political leanings of most of her professors had largely remained a mystery.

“More than anything, it’s the students who show their political affiliation,” she said.

— — Edited by Rachel Burchfield