Claims that academics are indoctrinating their students with liberal propaganda are increasingly common in the right-wing media. The Times Higher Education examines why such a conviction has arisen and whether there is any substance to it. Professor Tim Bale, who researches the Conservative Party, notes the correlation between graduates and liberal views. However, he says that “whether you’re a sophisticated Gramscian concerned about losing cultural hegemony or simply a right-wing conspiracy theorist, it’s putting two and two together to make five to suggest that the causal link is some kind of brainwashing by lecturers.”