Heroes are found more often in real life than one may think.

Case in point: California Polytechnic State University senior Nate Honeycutt’s work on behalf of political diversity.

Many college students spend their free time playing video games or partying, but not Nate Honeycutt.

The 20-year-old psychology and political science major, who attends a highly regarded public university in central California, used most of his free time during his junior year to research academic bias, and over the last two semesters uncovered an extremely liberal bent among campus leaders and professors in his region.

Honeycutt, an incoming senior at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo – one of the top research institutions among the public system’s 23 campuses –documented widespread leftist political bias across a majority of academic disciplines at his and three other nearby universities through a large-scale online faculty survey and by looking up campus leaders’ party affiliations through the registrar of voters.

The research found conservative academics are outnumbered by liberal ones by a 5 to 1 margin.

What’s more, conservative professors surveyed reported that they experienced hostility from peers because of their viewpoints, and tended to avoid outing themselves as conservatives to ensure they were not harassed or intimidated.

The survey was massive in scope: of the 2,339 questionnaires sent out, 644 professors responded representing nearly 80 academic disciplines.

“This really stifles the discussion and education and learning about how other people think,”  Honeycutt said in an interview with The College Fix. “These results are really disheartening. I think the university should be a place where open discussion is encouraged and alternative view points are expressed.”

…His research found about 40 percent of the campus leadership is Democrat while only about 15 percent is Republican.Soon after that project was completed last fall, Honeycutt took on the much larger online research project, launching the survey of faculty at Humboldt, Monterey Bay, San Luis Obispo and Stanislaus universities to determine their political leanings. Those results were released in early May.

Honeycutt undertook the efforts without the aid of a nonprofit or leadership from an activist group. He said he just wanted to do it.

Honeycutt has more on his personal website.