<p>Title says it all , im a south carolinian considering applying this year and i was wondering if the stereotypes from a few decades ago still carry over? Not that i would mind going to a liberal school but if im gonna be the only conservative for 10 miles i might start to worry : )</p>
<p>There have been several threads posted on this topic. The general response is, yes Berkeley is more liberal than conservative, but probably no nearly to the extent of its reputation. There are plenty of conservative people, groups, and clubs at Cal.</p>
<p>The Berkeley republicans is one of the largest groups on campus.</p>
<p>Berkeley the city is still a center for radical liberalism, but the university in recent decades, especially following 2000, has become moderately liberal.</p>
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The Berkeley republicans is one of the largest groups on campus.
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<p>Yeah yeah, the Berkeley College Republicans likes to CLAIM they are the largest group. But you really have to analyze that claim because it makes it seem as if theres more conservatives at Cal than there really are. See, what happens is that the liberal groups have SPLIT into hundreds of groups since they each advocate a slightly different issue. If all of those liberal students had the time, they would probably be in the Cal Dems, but they're off doing their own thing since they know that Cal Dems will get along just fine without them. Not so with BCR, since it is basically a cult which blacklists members who want to leave. </p>
<p>Another thing is that apparently BCR counts former, GRADUATED members as being in the club since they are "BCR alumni." Now that's great for advertising purposes, but I'm not too sure if that's fair to the other clubs. Nevertheless BCR does it, or so I hear.</p>
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Berkeley the city is still a center for radical liberalism, but the university in recent decades, especially following 2000, has become moderately liberal.
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<p>Where did you get THAT?</p>
<p>If anything, since 2000, Berkeley the university has become MORE liberal. </p>
<p>Four important factors which have made Berkeley more liberal since 2000::</p>
<ul>
<li>increased matriculation from inner city high schools, giving increased power to the pro-AA student groups</li>
<li>many formerly moderate liberals appaled with Bush's consecutive wins have now become extremely active</li>
<li>the university-chronicled skyrocketing dependence on substances by many Berkeley students</li>
<li>the continuing surge of women students, who mostly appear to be pro-choice</li>
</ul>
<p>College Republican activity on the campus surged after 2000. If anything, the conservative rise at Berkeley has contributed to a shift to the liberal center.</p>
<p>"college republican activity on the campus surged after 2000"</p>
<p>What??? Where did you hear this? You dont even go to berkeley yet. This is the most blanket statement ive ever heard. are you going to come up with ANY evidence to back up this claim?</p>
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the university-chronicled skyrocketing dependence on substances by many Berkeley students
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<p>Just wondering what this has to do with political attitudes?!</p>
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are you going to come up with ANY evidence to back up this claim?
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<p>Can you provide ANY evidence to debunk my claim? There's no denying that Republican activity on the campus has become much more tolerated than it was back in the 1990s.</p>
<p>On another note, I heard that BCR is the second largest group on campus. As far as my knowledge goes, largest group is the Asian American Association, which has 1000+ members.</p>
<p>AAA and BCR . . . two of the most worthless clubs on campus.</p>
<p>Berkeley is still pretty liberal, but I think a lot of students are more interested in getting into Haas or passing 1b than political activism these days. Unfortunately, many students I know, once they get into haas turn into defacto talking points for anything pro-business/Republican.</p>
<p>No crap Berkeley is a bastion of liberalism. Pro-Berkeley groups like to say that Berkeley isn't the MOST liberal place, but its still pretty liberal.</p>
<p>For the most part, the student body is highly apathetic like the rest of generation Y and politically inactive.</p>
<p>strykur, how can you say these things without even being a student at Cal yet? And why do i have to come up with evidence to debunk YOUR claim? I didnt make the claim, you did, so back it up. i think you have no idea what you're talking about.</p>
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Pro-Berkeley groups like to say that Berkeley isn't the MOST liberal place, but its still pretty liberal.
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<p>This is not good enough ! Berkeley should strive for the most liberal school in the whole universe !!</p>
<p>Borrowing an old cliche; Just like you can't be too thin or too rich, you can't be too liberal !!!</p>
<p>Berkeley is definitely liberal, but mostly nobody cares that much unless you're specifically talking about poli sci for some reason. I don't think people care about arguing politics to death because it's just bothersome. Just don't go around touting Bush as the greatest president ever or something.</p>
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strykur, how can you say these things without even being a student at Cal yet?
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<p>I know plenty of Cal upperclassmen, don't be so naive. </p>
<p>"In the 1990s, campus radicals were criticized by conservative scholars and others for trying to impose a "politically correct" ideology on the student majority. In that atmosphere, Cain recalled, conservative students were often shouted down or shunned. 'That was an unfortunate period in Berkeley's history,' he said. </p>
<p>The campus appears more tolerant today of different political views; still, there are tensions, some of the schoolyard variety."</p>
<p>Evidently, conservative activity on the campus APPEARS to be tolerated more by the liberal population, and thus the College Republicans, and conservatives in general have become a larger and more active group at Berkeley post-1990s.</p>
<p>"Is UC berkeley Still a bastion of Liberalism?"</p>
<p>Saddly....no.</p>
<p>Strykur, it's one thing to hear stories from upperclassmen, it's another to experience an environment on a day-to-day basis. </p>
<p>I would argue that the current political atmosphere has effectively caused most moderates to lean left, and that in turn has forced conservatives to become more desperate or, as the article suggests, "assertive" even to the point of "reckless(ness)." That club membership in the Berkeley College Republicans has risen is not indicative of a student population that is more conservative than previous times, it's just that the polemical politics being played out at this time has created a "you are either with us, or against us" attitude that is driving membership in key organizations; those who were moderately conservative have "become" (for lack of a better word) conservative relative to the overall campus environment. I think it's important to note that the article raises the notion of "tolerance" as gauged at the physical level, i.e. heckling, tossing newspapers into bins, etc. Tolerance at the surface level does not necessarily mean that one is tolerant of another on a personal level: one can sit next to another and smile, but that doesn't mean they have to like each other, and it certainly doesn't mean that they can't hate each other. Just because we can't see it, does not mean it doesn't exist; there persists a deep ideological divide at Berkeley.</p>
<p>We seem to have an idealogical divide in this topic regarding the OP's query.</p>