Robert Weissberg

Robert Weissberg (born 1941) is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois. He is the author of twelve books on politics and pedagogy. He has published numerous scientific papers in leading journals in political science. Weissberg has also written for magazines such as Forbes, Society, and The Weekly Standard. He has also been a speaker at American Renaissance Magazine conferences where he has been outspoken about his belief in the average mental differences between races.

A graduate of Teaneck High School, Weissberg earned an A.B. from Bard College and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin. He was an Assistant Professor at Cornell University and later Associate Professor and Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He retired from the University of Illinois in 2003.

Since retiring from the University of Illinois, Weissberg's choice of topics and unapologetic stance have led him to be described as a "slaughterer of sacred cows." In his 2010 Bad Students, Not Bad Schools, he summarizes the extensive psychometric literature indicating that Hispanics and blacks have lower IQs than whites and Asians, and notes that this literature supports the conclusion that such differences are at least in part genetically determined. Weissberg's outspoken presentation of these issues has attracted negative attention from writers across the ideological spectrum, a reaction anticipated by Weissberg himself in the preface to the book: "Bad Students, Not Bad Schools might be called an Emperor’s New Clothes book—it says what everybody (or nearly everybody) knows to be true but is fearful of expressing in public—America’s educational woes just reflect our current demographic mix of students. . . . Indifference to political fashion and pressure, a let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may attitude is a great advantage in a field where nearly all research must placate various gods or at least not offend reigning check-issuing deities, liberal or conservative."

In April 2012, in the wake of the John Derbyshire firing, National Review ended its relationship with Weissberg, noting that the editors only recently discovered that Weissberg had "participated in an American Renaissance conference where he delivered a noxious talk about the future of white nationalism". In an article about the incident, American Renaissance founder and editor Jared Taylor noted that during his talk at the conference Weissberg said that "any movement based on white racial identity is 'dead on arrival,'", and characterized Lowry's subsequent denunciation of Weissberg as an example of political correctness.

• American Democracy: Theory & Reality (1972), ASIN B000SGT9O4.
• Political Learning, Political Choice, & Democratic Citizenship (1974). ISBN 978-0136849933.
• Elementary Political Analysis (co-authored with Herbert Jacob) (1975). ISBN 978-0070321366.
• Public Opinion and Popular Government (1976). ISBN 978-0137379088.
• Understanding American Government (1979). ASIN B000OA72PM.
• Political Tolerance: Balancing Community and Diversity (1998). ISBN 978-0803973435.
• The Politics of Empowerment (1999). ISBN 978-0275964269.
• Democracy and the Academy (2000). ISBN 978-1560727835.
• Polling, Policy, and Public Opinion: The Case Against Heeding the "Voice of the People" (2002). ISBN 978-0312294953.
• The Limits of Civic Activism: Cautionary Tales on the Use of Politics (2004). ISBN 978-0765802613.
• Pernicious Tolerance: How Teaching to "Accept Differences" Undermines Civil Society (2008). ISBN 978-1412845793.
• Bad Students, Not Bad Schools (2010). ISBN 978-1412813457.

• "Academic Deception for Fun and Profit". Telos 112 (Summer 1998). New York: Telos Press.
• "The Perils of Keeping America America". Human Events August 25, 2004