Ivory Tower Of Hope--University Of Colorado Donates 21-1 For Barack Obama

Chronicling bias in the rarefied air of academia qualifies as a "dog bites man" type of story--we know the outcome, but the delight (or horror) is often found in the details.

CU Boulder has earned its reputation as a bastion of academic liberalism and extremism. Ward Churchill, anyone?

This year's election provided an opportunity to reexamine that bias via fundraising reports that would reveal, more than simple party registration or classroom indoctrination, how America's places of higher learning were treating the epic battle between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain in dollars and cents.

You guessed it--they really, really like Obama.

Using this donor list tool, you can search by candidate, name, employer, state, and zip code. We decided to see just how much "hope" there was for Obama versus McCain, and the results were a complete shock.

Not really.

The University of Colorado system saw its employees donate 21-1 for Obama. A quick check of two other schools--University of California (including Berkeley) and Harvard University--immediately reveals that CU is actually low in terms of per-candidate ratios.

University of Colorado: Obama--$112,386; McCain--$5,401

University of California: Obama--$355,242 (donations above $1,000 only); McCain--$17,620

Harvard University: Obama--$499,057; McCain--$17,046

Obama--the change he needs, courtesy (in part) of America's ivory towers of privilege.

How does your alma mater fare? Or your zip code?