I just visited Furman with my son. The campus was beautiful,the academics seem strong, we loved the range of majors, its seemed great. I could tell my son could see himself there for these reasons. We are however, very progressive as a family, particularly when it comes to social issues. Can anyone let me know if there are people like this at Furman? Would we feel at place? Would he have community?
Hey there, I am a current student at Furman. I am also a more progressive, liberal-leaning person, especially on social issues, and I have found that there is a community for like-minded people, either through clubs or other forums. While Furman is definitely a more conservative school, I do not necessarily feel out of place. Instead, I feel challenged. In class discussion, it is always interesting to hear different points of views on things like social issues or the concept of morality. When looking at schools, I was a little apprehensive of Furman when it came to its more conservative reputation, but I have loved that Furman has pushed me out of my comfort zone at times. It has really strengthened my beliefs. I hope this helps.
@studentatFU I am also pretty concerned about going to a school that has a large conservative population. I’m worried that I won’t be able to find a friend group, or that there will be huge intolerance concerning the LGBTQIA+ community, women’s health and sexuality, etc. I would like to be on a campus that is politically balanced with lots of different viewpoints, but is Furman predominantly conservative? I’m fine with a fifty/fiftyish ratio, but not sure that I want to be on a campus where I am the political minority.
@chummy1 I am not sure what exactly the ratio is, but I believe that it is pretty even balance. Of course there are some people who are more vocal then others, but it is not clear where everyone stands politically. There are different groups on campus (College Democrats, EROS {Encouraging Respect of Sexualities}, etc.) that are great groups of people who are active on campus. Furman is not the most liberal school in the country and it does not pretend to be, but it is definitely one that is working towards starting discussions and is open to change. There are some who are very vocal about their conservative values, but Furman does not tolerate discrimination. I think there are communities for everyone on campus, some might be just smaller than others.
I have found a friend group that is more liberal-leaning, although some of my friends do have more conservative values. One thing I love about college is that you can have great discussions with people of differing opinion and people do respect your opinion. Hope that helps.
Both Ds who graduated from Furman were very liberal. They were both very involved in extracurriculars and volunteer work. They had friends that were liberal, some not as much as they were. Many of the professors there are quite liberal. One thing that impressed me was that in both classes offered and Cultural Life Programs (CLPS, required for students) there was tremendous diversity, spanning the political, cultural, and religious spectrum.
Thanks everyone! I visited last Friday and spoke to some current students about the political climate, which helped. I put down my deposit last weekend. Furman 2020!!!
@chummy1 So happy you decided on Furman! I’m a current freshman and absolutely love it here.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and leaning very socially on issues, I also worried about whether or not I had made the right choice and I definitely did. I have not personally experienced any hate for who I am and was absolutely shocked at the amount of people I met here whose views align very closely with mine. You won’t have a problem finding other people with similar interests, whether you find them in your classrooms or in clubs. I agree that the CLPs on campus are incredibly diverse and many of the professors are liberal or approach discussions and topics with true neutrality and respect. I also feel as though there isn’t a push by the university towards one political view or another. Since the Presidential election is coming up, I see both Republican and Democrat booths with stickers and posters set up around campus and both draw lots of students. Most of friends are more so progressive on social issues and align with my views but I still have many friends that differ politically from me. The thing I noticed here is that people are respectful of differences in opinion, at least the people I’ve met and it’s something I appreciate considerably since it not only makes me feel more accepted here but open to learning about differing views. I think (and very much hope) potential/future students will also find this to be true.
If anyone has further questions about Furman and its open-mindedness and/or inclusion, I would be more than happy to try and help! Best of luck with the college decision process; I know it’s hard but it gets significantly better!