As the races for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations heat up, data from the Federal Elections Commission indicate that faculty and administrators at Yale — and at the country’s other top universities — have a decidedly left-wing bent.

Yale professors and administrators have raised a total of just over $111,000 for official presidential campaigns this election cycle, with the vast majority of that figure — over $96,000 — going to Hillary Clinton LAW ’73, the Democratic frontrunner. Sen. Bernie Sanders, her challenger in the Democratic primaries, has received $5,700 from Yale faculty and administrators. Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig LAW ’89, whose short-lived campaign focused on campaign finance reform, received $4,200. The FEC only collects data about donations to official presidential campaigns, with donations to super PACs remaining confidential.

Data from four other top universities — Columbia, Stanford, Princeton and Harvard — show similar trends, with faculty overwhelmingly donating to Democratic candidates and especially to Clinton. While Clinton has been widely lauded for her experience in public service, Yale faculty interviewed also cited personal experience with the candidate as a reason for their support — perhaps unsurprisingly, given Clinton’s ties with the University.

Sanders has often claimed on the campaign trail that his campaign tends to receive small donations from a large number of people, as opposed to Clinton’s campaign, which he says is fueled by big donations from wealthy individuals. At Yale, the trend is similar: 19 faculty members and administrators gave an average of $300 to Sanders’ campaign; the 59 faculty members and administrators who donated to Clinton gave an average of $1,650.

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/02/15/clinton-dominates-yale-faculty-donations/