My D22 has said for the last year that she was not interested in going to a small liberal arts college. She goes to a large high school in a major metro area where most of her peers go off to one of the various state universities. She was adamant that she wants to go to a university with a big sports scene, school spirit, and a “traditional” college experience. With COVID, her attitudes have changed just a bit. She said she has not missed football games, pep rallies, etc. as much as she thought she would.
A couple of days ago she said she might be interested in “considering” a liberal arts college. She started in the IB program at her school six weeks ago; it is a small program in a large school, and she loves the more personal attention she is getting from her teachers. She is starting to appreciate the ability to study a wide variety of subjects, the Socratic method, and being in a more collaborative atmosphere.
Her biggest concern about liberal arts colleges is that she says she is a “centrist” and feels nervous about going to a school that is too right/conservative or too left/liberal. She says she does not mind being around a student body where some groups are political, but she does not want to be at a school where political activism is the school’s main identity.
She is open to various parts of the country. She is in the top 10% of her class with a solid array of ECs. Merit aid would certainly be welcome, but we are fortunate that finances are not necessarily a prohibiting factor.
I, nor her mother, have experience with liberal arts colleges and do not know much about the campus life at a small school other than what we can read from a school’s website.
What do you say, CC colleagues?..Do we have any colleges today that have not completely aligned themselves with one side or another? Is there a happy medium somewhere on the spectrum between Hillsdale College and Reed College?
Lafayette College may be worth a look (and FWIW the school has a big football rivalry with nearby Lehigh). If a Catholic school is OK consider Holy Cross.
I think many of the Midwest and Pennsylvania LACS might fit the bill. Off the top of my head, St. Olaf, Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, and Denison might fit the bill. I’m sure there are plenty of others.
Here’s the problem: Back in the day, you could ship off to any reasonably selective private college and be more or less confident that virtually everyone would be politically apathetic and more interested in getting along to get ahead. You could also be reasonably confident that just about everyone was middle to upper-middle class. That’s no longer the case outside the confines of the public-supported universities that have priced themselves beyond the means of that state’s poorer families.
That is because the private college sector has taken it upon itself to be somewhat more reflective of the country as a whole and, (some would say to fend off attempts to annul their tax-exempt status), the exceptionally well-endowed ones have had to recruit the poor, the non-white and most importantly - the really, really wealthy in order to help pay for it all. And, that means the campuses are likely to be politically divided. Typically, depending on how sympathetic the wealthier students are to the plight of the poor and downtrodden, selective campuses will tend to sway to the left.
Finding a college that is willing and able to play it exactly down the middle will be difficult. I would start with small colleges with engineering departments. Or, any pre-professional programs. Those departments are traditional magnets for the middle-class and for those with middle-class aspirations. Check out Lehigh and Lafayette in Pennsylvania and Union College in Schenectady. There’s also Trinity College in Hartford.
Another bit of advice: Beware of LACs that boast of their paid speaker programs. If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen and these places are hot houses for political debate and future office-holders. I would place Wesleyan, Claremont-McKenna, Middlebury, Amherst and Williams on my Do Not Go Past Go list.
“non-litmus test schools” LACs could include Conn Coll, St Lawrence, Trinity, Union, F&M, Dickinson, Denison, Rhodes, Centre, Wooster. Schools likely off that list would probably include Oberlin, Vassar, Bard, Macalester. During our visits to Bates, it seemed balanced. From what I’ve heard, Colby is as well, though I have no personal experience of Colby.
Actually, college students lean left probably more because young adults lean left compared to the general adult population.
Also, the effect of racial/ethnic/religious diversity at a college can influence students on political matters involving racial/ethnic/religious diversity, simply by the presence of other students who are diverse (or not) in these ways, even if no overt political acts or speakers or protests or whatever occur. For many college students (particularly at residential colleges), college may be the place where they encounter greater such diversity than before or after college. Given that such diversity is now a political hot-button and often a definer of political left and right these days, such influence could have outsize impact on political leanings (probably more often, but not always, toward greater favoring or acceptance of such diversity).
@RealityCheck13 rather than asking “which college is full of Commies”, or “which college is full of reactionaries”, the best is to have your D21 put together a list of political stances which are important for her.
@circuitrider I disagree with you in your characterization of the past. Students political activism in the USA started in the 1930s, 90 years ago, and the extensive activism of the 1960s and 1970s was during our parents and grandparents’ years.
Amherst had extensive activism in the 1960s and 1970s, Middlebury had extensive anti-war protests in the 1970s, as did Richmond, Wellesley, Connecticut college, etc.
LACs never really served the middle class, but rather the upper middle class, and a large amount of college activism has always come out of the middle class and upper middle class. People who are educated, who are not struggling to survive, but have a lot less vested in the existing system, are generally the ones who plan and lead successful revolutions. Almost every successful revolution has been planned and lead n]by the middle class.
Interesting comment @circuitrider . There are many, many really wealthy kids at Lehigh, Laf, Trinity and Union. I don’t see a lot of middle class kids at any of them. My take on those schools is that they might be slightly more right than left, but I honestly don’t see a TON of difference between Lafayette and Williams. (Yes, I know they are different.)
I will recommend Bates. While it is not known as being politically active, students lean strongly left. It’s worth noting though that Bates was indeed founded on principles of inclusion. It very much served as a counterpoint to Bowdoin and Colby from the start, admitting working class students, along with women and African Americans. It never had Greek life, unlike most others mentioned in this thread.
Obviously things have changed and I would say that Colby, Bowdoin and Bates are more alike than they are different, and probably similarly aligned as far as politics go. None of those three are hotbeds of political activity though. A centrist student will find plenty of likeminded peers at a lot of LACs.
The Jesuit schools like Fordham or Holy Cross. They’re the liberal Catholics. A nice mix and community service is promoted. Religion is their if you choose to participate but not required.
Elon in North Carolina offers many of the aspects of a LAC, such as small classes,and close teacher involvement. Very balanced campus politically and emphasis on polite and respectful dialogue.
Brandeis, agree with the suggestions of the PA colleges, and the top tier Jesuit colleges… emphasis on service, being engaged, but not too far on either side of the divide.
Washington & Lee (possibly about to change its name) doesn’t get the love on CC but from my impression as an outsider it is middle of the road. It has the reputation of being on the conservative side, but I’m not sure that’s accurate today (see, e.g. the fact that both the student body and the faculty voted to remove Lee’s name from the University). Certainly a bunch of locals seem to think the University is full of radicals and revolutionaries. I suspect all this means it is middle of the road.
Disclaimer: I don’t have a student there, but we’ve looked at it pretty carefully, which is the basis of my opinion.
When I was looking for D21 someone suggested Richmond and posted a link to an article in their student paper. IIRC the leader of the College Democrats was lamenting how she couldn’t get people more involved, and the leader of College Republicans couldn’t be bothered to reply to the reporter.
I have no personal knowledge, but the article made it sound like a place where neither side gets very worked up and confrontational, which may be what you are looking for.
Re W&L – yes, at this point, it seems that it is “old school” alum who preserve the appearance of conservative campus culture, rather than current students. W&L remains distinctive from a lot of its LAC peers in that there is high greek life participation. However, from what I’ve heard, W&L, like Depauw in Indiana which also has dominant greek life numbers, in practice, that means that there is a greek life home for anyone interested, and there are greek life organizations which are not stereotypically “fratty.”
Davidson College in North Carolina might be of interest to your daughter.
Great location, charming small town with easy access to Charlotte, NC. Athletics are great.
Bucknell University in Pennsylvania is middle of the road politics. Division I athletics (Patriot League) & located in a charming town (Lewisburg).
St. Lawrence University in extreme upstate New York. Reasonable drive time to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada & to Montreal, Quebec. Moderate politics. Lots of scholarships. Very social. Ice Hockey is Division I. (Somewhat similar to Denison in Ohio with respect to student body & social scene.)
The University of the South at Suwanee in Tennessee. Small & lots of social activity.
Bowdoin College in Maine. Excellent everything–but tough to get an offer of admission.
Claremont McKenna College in California is moderate.
Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.
Furman University in South Carolina leans conservative, but much less so than Pat Sajack’s Hillsdale College.
I would also recommend the University of Richmond. In general, I highly recommend the campus life, quality of academics, and personal attention of the professors at LACs. Like your D, my D was an IB student and has been very happy with her courses and interaction with professors at Vassar. While that school may be too liberal for your daughter, we visited many other schools that seemed to provide an excellent educational experience. Also check out Davidson and Furman.