From what I have heard from people at my school’s perception of the University of Chicago, it seems to have a universally understood liberal atmosphere in regards to the political leanings of students. I also sort of get this perception from my research of the University of Chicago, but at the same time they also make it sound that dissenting opinions and controversy is welcome in the Life of the Mind. Any input on just how liberal the University of Chicago students are and how more conservative students fir in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Does it matter? You’re generally accurate from what I know though
I think of it as fairky apolitical compared to a lot of colleges. Everyone is working too hard to get too worked up politically. That said, if you want intellectual sparring partners, you will find them there. Some academic departments (like Econ) were notoriously conservative in the past.
Since the focus is on open and free academic inquiry, conservative students fit in fine. Students can be vociferous and passionate about political views but bullying of minority views is not acceptable. This starts from the top. See:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-university-of-chicago-opposes-trigger-warnings-1487646602
Of course, the business school and the econ department are home to several conservative-minded scholars.
Among us friends at BJ in the sixties there was much political talk. We were all somewhere on the Left except for one fellow who was an avowed conservative. Most of us admired the guy for going against the grain and being willing to stand his ground and defend his views. Arguing was the staff of life, within the Left as between Left and Right (or about nothing political at all). I sometimes suspected that our ostentatiously conservative classmate played up his orientation just for the sake of provoking argument. Anyhow, it did him no harm and possibly a bit of good. I trust that that tradition remains alive and well at Chicago.
@ak9800 it’s not really about political left vs. right and who “fits in” better. It’s about whether someone who attends or is on faculty there has the freedom to express his/her views w/o being shut down. Sadly, many colleges and universities fail to meet that minimal standard.
UChicago has spent considerable time on this topic in light of recent trends in higher ed. Their work, known as The Stone Repot, can be found here: https://freeexpression.uchicago.edu/page/report-committee-freedom-expression
To answer your specific question about whether someone who is “more conservative” politically might fit in, you might think through what type of student would be attracted to the “free expression” environment encouraged at UChicago and whether you yourself are that type of student.
Allan Bloom taught at UChicago and, while he wouldn’t label himself a conservative, his book “The Closing of the American Mind” helped shape the thinking of a lot of conservatives, including me.
The ideal at the U of C - not always realized - which may make it a bit different from other schools is the rigor it attempts to instil in questioning all views and opinions on political as on all other subjects. That ideal implies an openness to different points of view and a sense that “those who know only one side of an argument don’t know the argument”. All positions can be improved, frequently by modification after taking on board the arguments for opposing positions. This habit of mind ought to foster a repugnance for slogans and oversimplifications no matter what the political good intentions inspiring them. --If something like that culture persists at the University, I don’t think it matters much what political predisposition, if any, you bring to your study there. Your education will help you to think and argue, and that will be the way your classmates and teachers judge you. You might even discover you have crossed over to the other side!
The Econ department leans right (Non-Keynesian). Divinity leans left. The rest of the other departments vary based on how closely linked they are to these departments. If I were to guess, Booth, Law and Sociology which are closely linked to Econ are open to conservative ideas.
There have been plenty of Keynesian papers written by UChicago Econ faculty in the last 30 years, according to people who know. Right/left isn’t really an accurate description for schools of economic thought. We used to call it Fresh Water / Salt Water (ie Chicago/NU/CMU/Rochester/MN vs. Harvard/MIT/Yale/Princeton) but those lines have really blurred over the last few decades. Maybe someday there will be another major methodological feud to liven things up again. Not so for now.
There’s a Keynesian in UChicago Econ? Who? Can you name one? I am curious who it is…
Not a Keynesian. That war is over - for now. And Rat X’ers won. Some of the younger dudes over the past few decades have written about some of the new “market-based” keynesian models. I can dig up a name or two for you if needed.
@ak9800 “Any input on just how liberal the University of Chicago students are and how more conservative students fir in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!”
I think it depends a lot on what you mean by conservative. I hear that term used a lot of different ways these days. In general, people are accepting of a wide range of views, and enjoy the intellectual discussion around them. People tend to be less accepting if the views are perceived as attacking others.
For example, my D is at a Chicago peer school and last year a foreign grad student in a position of authority told her and another woman directly that he did not think that any women should be allowed in the school’s computer science program. That was not particularly well received, and was addressed. I mean, it shouldn’t be a surprise that if you go around telling your classmates they don’t belong there, it could be a long 4 years. lol
@JBStillFlying no need. It was just a curiousity…
I was thinking along the lines of “Is this Keynesian an upcoming superstar that I should start paying attention to?”
@FStratford - hahaha - no. But look into Kaplan who is probably more Keynesian than most of them. No one’s like the old guys - in the long run, they are all dead! (ha - just had to throw that in there . . . .).
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@JBStillFlying Personally, I agree with you. But I would bet the Econ. Dept from UCB, Yale, Harvard and MIT will vehemently disagree with your assertion that RE had won. Brad DeLong of UCB has called the Chicago School of Economics experiencing an intellectual collapse after 2008. Frankly, I don’t give a hoot about UCB Econ. Dept. Nonetheless, the point remains that many salt water schools still have a strong bias against U of C.
Going back to the original thread, an economic conservative would feel right at home at Becker Friedman Institute and Booth School. I can’t say the same for a social conservative.
@85bears46 - I’m not an economist so I can’t really validate DeLong’s statement. Cal’s econ dept. is considered to be very good (Cochrane - no Keynesian he - got his PhD at Cal and it’s still considered excellent as far as I know). All schools have a bias and all try to steal each other’s top faculty. That should tell you something about how much the lines have blurred over the years.
Chicago has tried to hire folks who dabble in a bit of Keynesian methods and they have a couple currently who dabble. We know UChicago macro economists - neither Keynesians nor dabblers - who have moved on to MIT and Yale. In general the methodological debates have moved on from that realm a while ago. I think there are die hards at the freshwater schools and salt waters. But most macro economists are not even working on business cycle stuff anymore. As one explained to me recently: “there are issues other than business cycle theory”.
As to whether RE won - well, Lucas is a giant. The question is to what extent macro economists use micro principles to explain macro phenomena, vs. the aggregate models of C+I+G and MV = P*Q (or whatever it is - might be forgetting my college macro theory there!). There are certainly those who dabble in the latter w/o looking much at the micro level. However, there is no doubt that Lucas has changed the ways of thinking about these issues - for academics, for policy makers, etc. So in that sense RE (or RatX) won big time.
Finally - and in the interest of returning to the original topic - just flipped through the O-Week app and noticed that they seem to have something for everyone. Because it hasn’t been mentioned, it bears noting that for those who are religiously oriented in the Jewish or Christian faiths, Hillel and other faith groups have been very active this week, and “Church Fair” will be held this Sunday at Reynolds before the various services begin for the day. When I lived in HP I knew many who attended a regular religious service (and even more who didn’t). W/o doubt, anyone who is religiously-oriented will find more fertile ground for debate and discussion at UChicago than many other places, including locales where everyone else thinks like you do (and how would that latter situation be any fun, anyway?).
Looks like things are a-changing… again:
The Tide Is Turning Against Big Tech’s Monopolies—Because of U. of C.
http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/September-2017/University-of-Chicago-Big-Tech-Monopoly/