As New Jersey's presidential primary, which falls on Feb. 5, draws closer, professors are beginning to publicly endorse their favorite candidates.
University professors have been donating funds to Democratic and Republican candidates for months now; however, several professors have taken the plunge in the last few weeks by making public statements and joining online endorsement groups.
History professor Sean Wilentz endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Nov. 14 in an interview with Newsweek blogger Andrew Romano '04. Wilentz told Romano that Clinton's candidacy was "the culmination of what's been a 40-year struggle for the Democrats."
History professor emeritus James McPherson and religion professor Albert Raboteau signed an online petition in support of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) titled "Historians for Obama" on Monday. The petition said that Obama's "qualities of mind and temperament really separate [him] from the rest of the pack."
The Obama petition has been signed by 52 college and university professors so far, including two from Yale and one from Harvard.
Wilentz had criticisms for Obama's candidacy, though, calling the candidate's strategy of trying to stay above politics "beautiful loserdom."
"The fact is, you can't govern without politics," he said. "That's really my pet peeve about the others."
Wilentz said he "had no conception that anybody would care, but I'm happy to tell people about it." He added that he has been supporting candidates almost every election since he worked for former Sen. Robert Kennedy's campaign for New York Senator in 1964.
Though he just signed the pro-Obama petition this week, McPherson said in an email that "since almost the moment he declared, I have thought Obama was the most promising candidate."
McPherson said "the national government needs a major change in direction in both policy and process, and Obama is the principal (and most persuasive) advocate of change."
Politics professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell pledged her vote for Obama at a rally for the candidate in Palmer Square in October. Religion professor Cornell West GS '80 said he was a "critical supporter" of Obama during an interview with DemocracyNow in June.
Jordan Reimer '08, who is in Wilentz's HIS 373: The New Nation this semester, said he knew Wilentz was outspoken about his political views before he enrolled in the class.
"I saw that Professor Wilentz published an article in Rolling Stone [magazine] two years ago that questioned whether Bush was the worst president in U.S. history but I signed up," Reimer said.
Reimer said Wilentz's new revelation "will not influence my perception of the class."
Shelby Gai '10, a member of Students for Barack Obama, said "students sometimes have a larger-than-life perception of their professors, and I feel that by publicly supporting a specific candidate, professors can differentiate their private selves from their work ones."
McPherson, who is not teaching classes, said that "even if I were teaching, I don't think my endorsement would have made any difference in how students perceived my teaching."
Wilentz said that he tries not to mix his own politics with his classes. "I've always been of the opinion that politics stop at classroom door."
"I'm not teaching people to persuade them of my politics," Wilentz said. "Most of the time I argue the opposite position if I think it's relevant."
McPherson didn't know whether he would campaign for Obama on campus this year, but Wilentz plans to do all of his Clinton campaigning off-campus. "Campaigning on campus is for the students to do," he said.
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