As a trans male person looking at colleges, I have to take into account my safety at these colleges, so a conservative college town like Wooster, OH is a little daunting to me. I just wanted to ask how tolerant the college town is because my mom and I didn’t get an accurate feel of the town when we visited since we apparently stayed in a sparser, seemingly less tolerant part of Wooster that definitely wasn’t the main college town. I’m not one for risking getting hate crimed for wanting to go to a restaurant with my friends. I would appreciate any feedback on the town.
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The relationship b/w town and students has never been spectacular, but I never felt unsafe ('99). Granted, I’m a cis-female… but I also looked about 15 and weighed about 90 lbs.
I’ll also say you’ll be surprised how little you’ll venture off campus. That said, I think if you stick to the areas students frequent (Beall/Liberty/North St. and the big shopping area north of campus) you’ll be fine. Honestly, there’s not much reason to venture outside those areas anyway.
I know there were some issues a couple years ago w/ cars going down Beall and yelling at students. But that’s the extent of what I’ve heard.
My daughter will be attending Wooster in the fall. Due to travel restrictions/ quarantine we did not visit in person, although of course we did online campus tours.
To be honest, the town is the only thing about the college that we are not thrilled about: I don’t want her (or you, or anyone) to be in danger or harassed when in town. My go to mental picture - when I start worrying- is guys with White Power tattoos harassing all non cis white male students!
At the same time I know this is a simplistic and quite judgmental comment; my comment is meant to illustrate that (I am aware) we all have room to grow in the quest for better town- gown relations.
I do wish I knew more anecdotal information on the town, however, as we know so little about it in that regard.
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@IndigoOwl Fortunately that mental image is actually simplistic (but I won’t call you judgemental). Wooster is actually a pretty cool area and the Downton is awesome. Politically/socially, Wooster is very diverse; all kinds of people and views. Which is great.
Obviously you’re from far away and have some stereotypical views/worries of it. Where are you coming from? Our daughter has committed also! We are thrilled with her choice and I personally can’t wait to go visit and explore Wooster when she’s at the school 
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Glad your D is going as well. Again, my comment was intentionally simplistic, and I was judging myself for thinking it, if that wasn’t clear!
@IndigoOwl Got it. Where is your daughter coming from (far and different from Wooster, OH it sounds like)…
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NYC and now Atlanta. What about you?
When Wooster was in the final 4 for my S20 last year, we had some of the same concerns as you. Coming from a very diverse city, he and I put a lot of thought into whether it was going to be okay in a small town with practically no diversity.
I loved everything about the college itself - it made me want to attend. But the town seemed potentially did not seem like a great fit for my son. College of Wooster looks fantastic from a minority POV - Town of Wooster seemed potentially like something to tolerate as much as enjoy.
For a young African-American male, he was concerned where he’d get his hair cut. Whether he’d see many people who looked like him when he did wander off campus. How would he be treated by merchants, and more importantly by law enforcement? There are so many factors to consider.
I think it could have worked out fine at Wooster and I pushed my support of it to him, but S20 eventually chose a less diverse campus located in a much more diverse city. He said the difference in cities influenced his decision.
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Thanks for sharing your son’s thought process as he navigated making his choice.
Like you, I feel this school is incredible and I am hoping that D will enjoy the rural atmosphere, which definitely has its own beauty, and that she will be so engaged in on campus life that even if she doesn’t, it will be okay!
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@IndigoOwl Cool. Nashville here.
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We are in Nashville too and I’m 99% sure my daughter will be committing to COW.
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Not Nashville but my daughter committed this past Wednesday.
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@cormac05 Chicago in the house!
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She is now 100% committed!
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My son will be attending next year also. We visited twice, and although it definitely seems more conservative than the college town where we live, the campus is pretty self-contained and isn’t adjacent to the downtown area — it’s more like .75-1 mile away. Also the core downtown area definitely has a college towny vibe. My son is very excited!
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My daughter has committed to Wooster as well. We got to visit in-person at their first in-person tour in 2021 right before Easter. I found the downtown to be quaint, and we enjoyed the Broken Rocks Restaurant, Tulipian Hungarian Pastry, and a great buy/sell/trade used bookstore. She really wanted a school with great undergrad research, small student teacher ratio, quirky vibe. We have a friend that lives in town, and she said it is a conservative area. However, the school being so great outweighed that for her. We live in a really conservative area, so she is used to that and can deal with it. Her number one and two schools were Tufts and Grinnell, but she got waitlisted at Grinnell and rejected from Tufts. She also got waitlisted at a bunch of other schools including Kenyon, but after she visited, she decided she liked Wooster better than Kenyon and even maybe Grinnell. She felt like Wooster was a really great fit with IS, dedication to undergrad mentoring and teaching, and she really liked them when she visit.
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Is your child on the Facebook group? I’m hoping to connect my daughter up with other incoming freshman.
I think she is on it, but probably rarely checks facebook. There are group chats on group me and discord I think. She tals about the group me one frequently, so I think that is the most active.
She has also connected with people through instagram.
Where are you located?
I saw that the local city council is half Dem, half Rep, and 1 Independent, so I would hope that they wouldn’t pass any “bathroom bills” there, but I don’t know. From what I could tell, it seemed like the downtown itself is more moderate, but probably gets more conservative pretty quickly as you go out of town. I do know that when we were at a local restaurant (Muddy’s), my friend didn’t want to speak too loudly about her politics because it is a conservative area, and she is a public figure there. However, again, that is like the area we live in. Alternatively, there is a nationally known farmer’s market and cafe - Local Roots, that has over 150 different farmers at the market.
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We are in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
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