Conservatives are if anything over represented and respected in universities I went to a good uni, well known for stem. My physiology teacher was a mormon creationist

It really depends on the person and the place their beliefs lie with respect to scholarship. A creationist teaching evolution is gonna have a hell of a time doing it well. Any judgement should be in terms of their scholarship and teaching.

Which creates the artificial elevation of their “worldview” in serious academic subjects, so commentators can bloviate when they get too divorced from reality to succeed even despite this deference.