With their dollars, college professors, administrators and staff around Central New York are funding presidential candidates to the tune of at least $62,694 in the last two years.
That’s according to a search of campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. And that’s normal on college campuses, say political finance experts.
“People who have higher levels of education tend to then have higher levels of income. Because professors fall into that higher income, higher education category, that means they are statistically speaking, just more likely to give money,” said political scientist Danny Hayes of Syracuse University
In this presidential primary, individual donors are allowed to contribute a maximum of $2,300 to a specific campaign. But most donations made by Central New York college and university professors have fallen between the $250 and $1,000 range.
At Syracuse University, professors, administrators and staff donated more money to Democratic presidential nominee contender Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. At SU, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., came in second. At Cornell University, Obama was No. 1 and Clinton was second.
At Syracuse University, here is a breakdown of presidential campaign contributions, filed with the FEC, since 2006:
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At least $15,800 in contributions came from 28 professors, administrators and staff.
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Of that, 93 percent of the donations were made to Clinton and Obama.
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Clinton had the most contributions with $9,500.
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Obama received $5,300.
At Cornell University, professors and faculty contributed largely to the Obama campaign. Here is an overview of campaign contributions made to presidential nominee contenders from Cornell faculty:
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At least $46,894 total went to the presidential candidates’ campaigns.
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At least 55 percent — or $25,494 — of that went to Obama.
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At least $12,400 was donated to Clinton.
Other college and university professors from the Central New York area were not so generous. These are the campaign contribution totals:
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Hamilton College: $2,800 to Clinton and $500 to Obama.
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Colgate University $1,810 to Clinton and $300 to Obama.
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Le Moyne College: $758 to Obama.
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Ithaca College: $400 to McCain.
At Cornell and Syracuse University, the distinct support for Obama and Clinton reflects the culture and geography of each school, said Kristi Andersen, the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor Maxwell Professor of Teaching Excellence at Syracuse University.
“I think Obama’s support is very strong among the highly educated academic people of Cornell,” Andersen said. Ithaca is located in Tompkins County, the only county in New York that Obama won in Clinton’s home state in the Feb. 5 primary.
Syracuse University is located in Onondaga County, which Clinton won with 62 percent of the vote, over Obama’s 36 percent.
“The Clinton’s have a close relationship with this area,” Andersen said. “They’ve been here in this area and have a strong base of supporters.”
But Andersen, unlike most of professors at Syracuse, made a contribution to the Obama campaign after being inspired by her 21-year-old son’s fascination with the campaign.
“My children got me into Obama,” Andersen said. “But as the campaign has developed I’ve liked Obama more.”
At Cornell, Kathleen O’Connor, associate professor of management and organizations in the Johnson School of Management, also made a $1,000 contribution to Obama’s campaign. “I have the resources and I feel like it’s my duty to be involved,” O’Connor said. She added, “You want to make sure your candidate has the resources to continue their campaign.” And that has a payoff in publicity for the candidate, she said.
“The media also pays attention to contributions as a yardstick that measures a campaign’s viability,” said O’Connor.
With the Democratic primary race still unresolved, O’Connor plans to donate more. She can donate another $1,300 until she reaches the $2,300 individual campaign contribution limit.
At Syracuse University, David Robinson, the Dellplain Professor of Latin American geography, contributed to Clinton because he understood the need for money in the primary.
“Nowadays, the elections are so expensive,” Robinson said.
“Contributions support the infrastructure behind the elections. Candidates clearly need the money and people need to put their money where their mouth is.”
(Bryan Young is a sophomore newspaper journalism and political science major)
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