Brown does tend to have the reputation of being the most radical progressive Ivy at least during my HS/college years. There was a substantial overlap of applicants to Brown and schools like Oberlin.
Incidentally, several college classmates in my dorm were actually admitted to Brown and decided to attend Oberlin because they felt Brown wasn’t progressive left enough for them. Keep in mind this was in the mid-late '90s and from what I understand from younger Oberlin alums, the student body has substantially mellowed and moved a bit rightward politically* since my classmates and I graduated.
Regarding Ted Cruz…a slight clarification. He did go to Harvard for law school. However, he did his undergrad at Princeton during an era when it was considered an Ivy with one of the most politically conservative leaning student bodies among the Ivies. Incidentally, he only graduated P a few years before I graduated HS.
More mainsteam Democratic party/Green Party supporters whereas even the Green Party was considered a bit too conservative by many college classmates during my undergrad years.
Also surprised to see W&M described as hard right. Not at all the experience of my D, and we also live close enough to the college that they will be an item of interest covered in our local news on a regular basis. A few years back, the elected a transgender homecoming queen, they removed the confederate flag from some of college’s ceremonial items late last year (their mace, for one), and someone plastered sticky notes all over Jefferson last semester calling into question his legacy and morality (to put it politely).
I do think the activism of the college steers more towards service, volunteerism and community engagement over protests. I also agree with soccerguy that academics probably take precedent over protesting. In fact, want to see a W&M student body protest? Close Swem early.
My brother was a Wesleyan grad, class of 94. I would say any school would have a hard time coming in left of Wesleyan in the early 90s. We were actually a bit surprised he chose the university over some of his other entries as he is not left leaning.
Can’t comment much on the music scene at the college as D and my brother are/were STEM majors. I can say that D feels that the collaborative and engaged learning environment is definitely a plus at W&M, and that the professors go out of their way to be available to their students and get to know them.