Hey all,
I am planning to attend a cal state for a year for a single subject credential. I do not want to go to one in the bay area or in LA due to a dislike for city living (which works out well considering the following). I want to go to a school that offers a fair political/social perspective on education. I went to CU boulder for undergrad and they do NOT entertain anything but the far left view. I want a place where we can discuss the degree to which the institution of public education is racist as opposed to having to write essays about how its extremely racist. Is Humbolt state the same? Monterey Bay? Channel Islands? SDSU? San Marcos?
Thanks
The political divide in California is not so much urban/rural, but more coastal/inland. All the schools you list are coastal. My guess would be that the best CSUs for a conservative political atmosphere would be inland in the San Joaquin Valley, e.g. Fresno State or Cal State Bakersfield. But if you don’t like cities, you might not like Fresno or Bakersfield; they are both urban areas, even if they are relatively conservative. For inland and non-urban, my best guess would be Chico State.
For the most conservative coastal option, I would guess Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, which is adjacent to the SJ Valley, and which draws many students from that area. SLO is definitely not an urban environment, and it is a long way from the Bay Area or LA. However, CP-SLO is also generally the hardest CSU to get into.
Many CSUs are mainly commuter schools where most students are studying pre-professional subjects, leading to less political activity overall.
Most college students in California are non-white, so you should not be surprised that most of them lean left on issues relating to race, ethnicity, and racism (although that does not necessarily carry over to other issues).
Humboldt is probably the CU Boulder of the CSUs, so I would cross that off your list.
The others would be fine for you, I think. With the exception of SDSU, they are all commuter so it’s less political involvement and a dominant culture in one way or the other.
Too bad you can’t go to any university and feel comfortable discussing a range of views. That’s sad. It’s contrary to the elevated discourse around ideas that was the hallmark of a university experience.
“Too bad you can’t go to any university and feel comfortable discussing a range of views. That’s sad. It’s contrary to the elevated discourse around ideas that was the hallmark of a university experience.”
And it’s especially sad and telling that just wanting to be able to discuss degrees of racism rather than be forced to write essays about how racist a college is would be labeled as indicative of needing a “conservative” atmosphere.
And that is probably a very broad brush that people are painting based on perhaps one class or instructor that the OP encountered at a school that is not any of the ones under consideration.
But also, the noisiest people are often those with the most extreme viewpoints, who do not desire “elevated discourse” when they try to bully others. They often tend to attract noisy extremist opposition from the opposite end who behaves similarly. It gets even nastier when the topic is about individually unchangeable identity characteristics like race and ethnicity, as opposed to behavior. And that is not unique to college campuses.
Of course Fair political perspective is in the eye of the beholder - but I would expect less constrained discourse at the graduate level. I think you will find most of the state to be pretty well LEFT of center. SJ Valley schools like Fresno and Bakersfield are probably your best shot at having a Republican or two on the faculty - but, you gotta live there for a couple of years. I would take a look at Chico and SDSU.
Humbolt being a radical bubble definitely scares me.
Its great that if one happens to go to one of the two most conservative CSUs, they might be lucky to one or two Republicans on faculty. :)))
SDSU could be good
It is unfortunate that we live in a time when you even have to ask your question. Your concern is a valid one and again, it should not have to be.
I am starting to see this question a lot and a part of me thinks the answer is not in finding schools where you can openly express yourself, but for the non-progressives to have the courage to speak up and to be strong. The far left is very loud - maybe it’s time to challenge that to a greater degree.
Good luck to you. I don’t envy those going to college during this time. It used to be a place for all viewpoints and a time to think, consider and analyze. Not so much any longer.
However, people seem to have an exaggerated sense and fear of that, especially when the far right can be as loud or louder (and loud enough to have convinced a lot of people that they are representative of all conservatives).
i really do think you will find grad school open to more diverse points of view in the discourse. that’s kinda the point.
“The far left is very loud - maybe it’s time to challenge that to a greater degree.”
The right can be incredibly loud and violent. On many of the social media platforms they are horrendous, and in real life even more so. We are living in a very dark time and I will leave it at that.
As for the OP, many of the CalStates are very liberal but even a school like mine which is liberal with a capital L has a republican club that meets. They even have drives for membership and have held protests in front of the library.