(The Center Square) – In 2024, as the possibility of a Donald Trump/Joe Biden presidential rematch looks more and more possible, the University of New Mexico could break through into a new level of influence in New Mexico politics as the source of over $3 million in campaign donations. Ninety-seven percent of the donations will go to Democrats.
In the 2016 presidential cycle, according to federal records compiled by OpenSecrets.org, University of New Mexico staffers gave $206,000 to Democrats, 95% of their total political giving. In the 2020 election cycle, giving to Democrats nearly quadrupled to $812,000, this time, 97% of total giving.
If University of New Mexico donations continue on that trajectory, Democrats could receive an unprecedented – and publicly funded – windfall of more than $3 million dollars.
Critics say the overwhelming partisanship of the University of New Mexico system is a sign that the schools have become a political echo chamber where students are more likely to be indoctrinated than educated.
Jennifer Kabbany, editor of The College Fix, which tracks political correctness at universities nationwide, says the donations mask a deeper problem at universities, “The older, classically liberal (professors) who tended to support free speech, academic freedom and intellectual diversity are retiring. They are being replaced with younger, more radical scholars who use the classroom for activism and indoctrination rather than education. These new scholars tend to be far more politically active.” She argues that this transition has turned schools into one-party “echo chambers.”
The top recipients of UNM money in 2020 were Joe Biden ($162,000), Xochitl Torres Small ($61,000), the Democratic National Committee ($49,000), Debra Haaland ($44,000) and Bernie Sanders ($43,000).
