I am not trying to exaggerate. There are many examples of conservative professors successfully operating in the social science departments of universities. But, the number is relatively small. Although the job application does not ask the politics of the applicant, conservatives are usually known by their reputation and their writings (especially if they write non-academic articles). But, there have been controversies when departments vote to hire an applicant based on the person's political writings and activities. Nobody is told they were not hired because of their political views.
Many professors make no attempt to keep their politics out of the classroom and some are popular because of their politics.
There is no doubt liberals are more attracted to some fields so that explains a larger percentage of liberals, but that is very different than prejudice against hiring conservatives. It is a well recognized issue although there is debate about the degree. I can tell you that my department head would not want to hire a conservative although she tolerated the ones we had.
There is no support for your claim that people become more liberal as they become more aware and informed. The key factor is that people who are more interested become more ware and informed--both liberal and conservative.
From "Passing on the Right" which is an academic study of conservative professors.
"Few seem to think conservatives should become professors. While the left fears an invasion of their citadel by conservatives marching to orders from the Koch brothers, the right steers young conservatives away from a professorial vocation by lampooning its leftism. Shields and Dunn quiet these fears by shedding light on the hidden world of conservative professors through 153 interviews.
Most conservative professors told them that the university is a far more tolerant place than its right-wing critics imagine. Many, in fact, first turned right in the university itself, while others say they feel more at home in academia than in the Republican Party. Even so, being a conservative in the progressive university can be challenging. Many professors admit to closeting themselves prior to tenure by passing as liberals. Some openly conservative professors even say they were badly mistreated on account of their politics, especially those who ventured into politicized disciplines or expressed culturally conservative views.
Despite real challenges, the many successful professors interviewed by Shields and Dunn show that conservatives can survive and sometimes thrive in one of America's most progressive professions. And this means that liberals and conservatives need to rethink the place of conservatives in academia. Liberals should take the high road by becoming more principled advocates of diversity, especially since conservative professors are rarely close-minded or combatants in a right-wing war against the university. Movement conservatives, meanwhile, should de-escalate its polemical war against the university, especially since it inadvertently helps cement progressives' troubled rule over academia."
