<p>Seems that NESCAC schools, many of them, are superliberal and that ironically, alternative political views are shunned by many of these closed-minded liberals. It seems that at many of these schools, traditionalists are the only group not accepted. I hear that Williams might be different especially because of its athletic focus. Is this right?</p>
<p>The conservative Collegeguide.org thinks so. They use a “traffic light” [system[/url</a>] for rating schools:
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<p>Most NESCACs currently get “yellow lights” from collegeguide. Several NESCACs (Amherst, Hamilton, Middlebury, and Wesleyan) get “red lights”. </p>
<p>Williams is currently the only NESCAC that gets a “green light” (although Union College, a former NESCAC member, gets one too).</p>
<p>By the way, collegeguide has no problem with schools that are intolerant towards students with left-wing leanings. For example, Liberty University quite explicitly allows students to form a College Republican club, but not a [url=<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052200793.html]College”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052200793.html]College</a> Democrats club](<a href=“http://www.collegeguide.org/about_faq.aspx#faq3]system[/url”>http://www.collegeguide.org/about_faq.aspx#faq3), yet Liberty gets the “green light” from collegeguide. I question whether any of collegeguide’s “red light” schools (such as the “red light” NESCACs) would bar students from forming a Republican or Libertarian club.</p>
<p>My roommate was conservative, I’m pretty liberal. You will be outnumbered, but I don’t think he ever felt ostracized. We went to political debates together and played the State of the Union drinking game, which is fun for both sides of the aisle.</p>
<p>Corbett, Reed College in Oregon also receives a green light from collegeguide.org, which does not sound right to me. So I would caution the OP about putting too much weight into their rating system.</p>
<p>^ Maybe because Reed has one of the most conservative, traditional curricula in the country, with students tolerant of any beliefs and behavior.</p>
<p>vonlost, I came to a similar conclusion, that it was probably due to collegeguide’s emphasis on the importance of requiring students to study traditional subjects in depth and its judgment that Reed does well with regard to that, but I do not believe that closely fits what most students would think of as “conservative.” </p>
<p>Also, I am sure that Reed kids would not harass conservatives and would allow them to form their own groups, but that would generally be true of the many schools that collegeguide gave a yellow light, including Notre Dame.</p>
<p>Reed (liberal and tolerant) and Liberty (conservative and intolerant) both getting green does suggest a curious rating system, but Reed’s green may indeed confuse their target audience.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the full collegeguide.org review for Reed College (you have to pay for it), but I would assume that Reed gets big points for its traditional curriculum, despite its reputation for hippie students.</p>
<p>For example, Reed requires all freshmen to take a rigorous full-year course on the Foundations of Western Civilization. This kind of mandatory “core curriculum” is a huge plus for many conservatives; they see Reed as a model for other LACs in this regard.</p>
<p>The opposite approach – which conservatives tend to view as a huge minus – is the “open curriculum”. It may not be coincidental that three of the four “red-light” NESCACs (Amherst, Hamilton, Wesleyan) are “open curriculum” schools.</p>
<p>I definitely don’t think it’s good to ban any group from meeting, I’m very pro-free speech and i love arguing and debating liberals on the issues where we disagree. it just concerned me that at certain schools there seemed to be attacks and posters ripped down just because it was a conservative group (Amherst and Bowdoin specifically). With so many preppy athlete types at those schools that really surprised me!</p>
<p>Redman, All Northeastern colleges (maybe all selective, academically rigorous colleges?) lean left. The administration votes Democratic, the faculty votes Democratic, the students support liberal causes. At medium to large universities there is a large enough critical mass to allow for a conservative island. At small LACs the most a conservative can hope for is the opportunity to express his/her opinion, in class or informally. </p>
<p>I think conservatives get that opportunity at Williams, even though the majority may not agree with them. Whether this is from a sense of fair play or just pervasive political apathy I couldn’t say, but it does seem that Williams, while still left of center, is somewhat more middle road than its peers.</p>
<p>Given that most intellectuals (and academics, scientists) tend to be liberal, this is to be expected at top academic institutions. Intelligent dialogue is to be expected (and can be fun), but there would be a lack of tolerance for any strong political leaning not supported by a strong knowledge base and rigorous thought process.</p>
<p>I’d guess many more conservatives at good colleges have well thought-out political opinions compared to liberals, since being liberal is by far the easier and more common thing. i’m sure many liberals are just parroting what their teachers/friends/media have told them to say. in the end, there’s no excuse for supposedly tolerant “liberals” to angrily attack and be hostile toward conservatives, right?</p>
<p>The Williams Record has a long article on this topic this week:</p>
<p>[Crosscurrents</a> of conservatism make way across liberal campus | The Williams Record](<a href=“thewilliamsrecord.com”>thewilliamsrecord.com)</p>
<p>I do note that a number of successful / prominent conservatives have attended Williams, in addition to Blatt (founder of Gay Patriot, mentioned in the article), they include William Bennett, Wendy Shalit, Daniel Drezner, Arne Carlson, Jason Poling, Walker Stapleton, David Kensinger, and Jeffrey Sutton, most of whom were involved in conservative activism while on campus. </p>
<p>Like all northeast colleges, Williams is and will likely always be overwhelmingly liberal. Part of the issue is that conservatives with the intellectual ability to become college professors are far more likely to choose more lucrative private sector opportunities than liberals. Part is the geographic location in one of the most liberal states. Part is that college-aged people, particularly those attending elite academic institutions, tend to be far more liberal than the mean, nationally. But so far as I have seen, there has always been a small but vibrant conservative student presence on campus, and the campus frequently invites conservative speakers to provide a balanced perspective. That doesn’t mean there will be many Republicans on campus, necessarily, especially as the party moves further and further to the extreme right (particularly on social issues), but there will always be plenty of classic small-government conservatives.</p>
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<p>With all due respect, if you want to be treated fairly and with respect by people in college, you’re going to have to knock off the, “people who disagree with me are all brainwashed parrots” thing. It’s really rude and ignorant. You would be justifiably annoyed if liberals insisted that you were just ‘parroting’ what you learned from your parents or from Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, right? Liberals think through their beliefs just as much as conservatives do. Saying that someone is just a parrot or that their beliefs are ‘easier’ is a recipe for anger and hostility!</p>
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<p>I agree completely!</p>
<p>Seconded on both points, WandMParent. (I’m a Williams alum, fwiw)</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone for your responses. It seems like Williams is a tolerant enough place for different political opinions and I really look forward to visiting. I will say that the Democrats moved far to the left on social issues much more than Republicans moved far to the right (though i don’t agree with republicans on everything).</p>
I recommended to my kids that they consider the political situation when choosing colleges. We live in a very Blue area. I thought that it was important that they learn to recognize that there is intelligent life on both sides of the aisle. My view is that there is way too much acrimony and it isn’t productive acrimony.
I remember the tour of Swarthmore when I asked who there is to argue with if everybody is liberal. Without batting an eyelash, the tour guide said that there were different degrees of liberal so it wasn’t a problem. Of course it’s a problem!