How Liberal is UChicago?

There are many, many libertarian, free-market type conservatives at Chicago, on the faculty and among the students, both undergraduate and graduate. In humanities, there are some champions of classical Western Civilization – which is a lot more than one could say about most humanities faculties. There are plenty of religious people, although they span a wide spectrum – Catholics, mainstream Protestants, Evangelicals, Muslims, Hindus, liberal Jews, orthodox Jews, other faiths – so that no particular group feels like anything but a minority. (And all the people who consider themselves religiously observant put together are still probably a minority of all students.)

What there aren’t a lot of are so-called “movement conservatives” – culture-war people who are upset about things like marriage equality and sex ed, biblical literalists, etc. People who identify strongly with those positions may not feel comfortable.

I noticed that UChicago seemed to attract a fair number of LDS as well, though clearly still a minority. They would be one example of movement conservatives who are not for things like redefining marriage. Though it’s possible that the younger Mormons are a bit less doctrinal on this issue than are their parents. We noticed a bible-van parked on the Midway last weekend, though it could have been that they borrowed the van to haul the kid’s stuff. Also saw a few U-Haul vans (Rent me for $19.99 a day!). How much stuff did class of 2021 bring? We only had a sedan-load. Did see a 2-door Beemer (I think) convertible with exactly one (large) box in it. So again, all types.

@JBStillFlying, sedan load…heck, we only had two suitcases although we did use vacuum packed bags inside.

@CU123 we brought a lot of stuff with us that most would buy on their Target runs. Broom, paper towels, full set of dishes and flatware, a rug, tons of school supplies, plus duffel bags and a very large suitcase. Remember how hot it was on Move in? Well, we had the fan a-blowin’ already (no AC in D’s dorm).

We’ve used those vac. bags for other kids. Major space savers!

Today it was 95 degrees for upperclassmen move in!!

Yes, one of the reasons my DD decided on Max P. AC…and as the single male in my family I do remember the heat and carrying all of the luggage and all the Target stuff.

Don’t conflate the school’s position on “free expression” with student opinions. The doctrine has no effect on campus life as far as I can tell after being here for a bit over three years. The admin is also very unpopular among students.

There will be a survey of political opinions of the incoming first years coming out in the next couple of weeks in the Maroon. For the last three classes, it’s turned out ~75% liberal and 5-10% conservative. The vast majority of the conservatives I know are big business types, not Evangelical or Trumpist. I would guess that there are roughly equal numbers of students who identify as conservative and “radical Left” (including Marxists, etc) on campus.