<p>being teenage conservative botu fiscally and socially im used to having conflicting views with my peers. however im wondering if i will be persecuted for my stances at uw. not that its exactly a dealbreaker ive always liked a challenge but im curious at to what thw environment there is like. sent from phone pardon typos please</p>
<p>My son is also a republican, he joined the young republican club. According to my son there is a large group of repubicans at UW, at least 100 (just kidding, he said its equal). I wouldn’t put that on your application unless you are in the top one percent in your class and have perfect test scores!!!</p>
<p>I wish everyone would stop worrying about whether a school is too liberal, or too conservative. Your political views will change over time. Reagan was once a democrat. George McGovern was once a republican. My own father was head of the democratic party in my home town for 10 years, but ended up as a republican. I was a liberal democrat at age 18, but voted for Ford over Carter in 1976, when I was 21. Even Hillary Clinton used to be a “Goldwater Girl”.</p>
<p>Of course you are probably a liberal when you are young. For a lot of you, hard as it may be for you to believe, that may eventually change. Again, Reagan and McGovern being prime examples.</p>
<p>Further, even if your views don’t change, I think it is good for everyone to hear opposing points of view. As Benjamin Franklin said at the deadlocked constitutional convention, there were a lot of things he believed with 100% certainty at age 21 that he no longer believed at age 80, and that everyone at the convention should not be so sure that their own views are necessarily right. </p>
<p>It is undeniable that Clinton was a better President than George Bush Sr, and that Reagan was a better President than Carter. So let’s not all be so rigid in our political views. Especially when you go to college. You should be formulating your views at college, not deciding even before you go to college what your views are.</p>
<p>UW’s reputation as a liberal school is overstated. Most of the students appear to have little interest in politics except around election time. There is very, very little activism on campus. If the students are liberal it is in some sort of vague way aimed at being helpful to those who need help as opposed to having a well-constructed ideology.</p>
<p>The city and the school are extremely liberal and conservatives are few and far between. The professors and TAs also tend to be very liberal (though this is true at essentially every school).</p>
<p>As with most things though, you’ll be fine as long as you keep an open mind.</p>
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<p>A lack of political activism with little interest in politics except for around elections doesn’t mean that someone isn’t liberal, just that they’d rather spend their time doing something else.</p>
<p>thanks for all your responses
my reason for concern is because at another largely liberal school(UC Berkeley) my friend (2 years above me) witnessed a lot of hateful treatment from the faculty for his views,
its hard to keep an open mind when every1 around you doesnt badger2012 </p>
<p>that being said i used to be concerned the situation at UW but ive resolved to the conclusion that if anything it will be good practice for the real world. If any current students would like to comment that would be nice. </p>
<p>danke</p>
<p>@Mike1213</p>
<p>You won’t get hateful treatment from the faculty for being conservative as long as you support your position in a reasonable and logical fashion. One of the members of the UW College Republicans complained once that she received an F unfairly on a paper because of her conservative views, which she followed up by saying that (I’m paraphrasing) “it’s like you can’t express your opinion.” A paper isn’t an opinion piece, it’s based on an argument that you have to back up with facts and solid reasoning. If you don’t do that it doesn’t matter what your political slant is, you’ll fail.</p>
<p>By the way, I’m a (soon to be graduating) student.</p>
<p>There is room for many diverse viewpoints at UW. You may go from a majority view in your hometown to being surrounded by fellow students who question those views. Makes for fun late night conversations. It DOES matter whether a campus tends to be liberal or conservative. Being surrounded by conservatives (no matter what beliefs they are trying to conserve- political, religious…) who won’t accept a challenge is difficult for those with a minority view. Being surrounded by liberals who challenge you to prove your ideology may help you understand your convictions and strengthen them. Your fellow freshmen are likely to be more conservative than you think. They will learn to question the ideas they grew up with through the “sifting and winnowing” process that is part of the Wisconsin Idea (there’s a plaque somewhere on campus with the whole quote).</p>
<p>The label Republican/Democrat meant different things decades ago. Currently the ultra conservatives are trying to rule the Republican party instead of letting the philosophies the party has stood for be the agenda. This is unfortunate as both parties have historically (in the lifetime of your parents) had ideas that strengthen the running of our country on various levels. Changes in party focus can be a reason people change parties over the years, not just changes in the people.</p>
<p>The bottom line- you should feel comfortable.</p>
<p>No one will be bothered by the fact that you are conservative; if you are okay with the general culture of the campus being fairly liberal, then you’ll be just fine.</p>
<p>There are lots of clubs and groups on campus you can join that are conservative as well.</p>
<p>This is one of my favorite sayings: “If you’re a conservative at 20, you don’t have a heart. If you’re a liberal at 40, you don’t have a brain.”</p>
<p>I would think it is the opposite if you must go with such an unthinking statement- being liberal requires ongoing thinking, unlike those who stick with the old and familiar. Remember- what is conservative today was once flamin’ liberal in times past.</p>
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<p>If you take it in jest and not seriously it’s funny, but since a lot of people (i.e. conservatives) take it seriously I’ve come to dislike the quote. The reality of course just doesn’t reflect that statement. To use an obvious counterexample, academia is filled with almost entirely liberal professors regardless of the area of study – it goes without saying that a lot, if not most, are over 40, and they certainly “have a brain”.</p>
<p>I agree that people change as they get older, but its hard to look objectivity at the current state of this country with the cost of college going up and the return on investment low. We have a president that is using class warfare to make people who are successful pay for his spread the wealth society. How many middle class people can pay for college?? 45M people are on food stamps, less than 50% pay federal taxes. A great school like UW should objectivly have required history to study large wealfare states (over 50M people) such as the welfare state of Europe. I consider myself a social moderate and fiscal conserative. I pay my 15K in heath insurance and my 15K in payroll taxes for myself and others who work for me. I pay full tuition for both my kids in college. I don’t drink, but my kids in college do. UW is a liberal school the President has spoken there a few times. After you pay over 100K in federal taxes and listen to all the bull about speading the weath yes if you are over 40 and make well over 300K you are brain dead!!!</p>
<p>That means Warren Buffett is brain dead? Or, Geo. Soros.</p>
<p>Spreading the wealth is the only way rich people (not ultra rich, ordinary top percent) can live in a rich society. Once you start cutting public services and education quality of daily life goes down no matter how much personal wealth you have. Roads, libraries and other services require tax dollars. I like Bufett’s tax the ultra wealthy plan- he could even raise my taxes if it means more city/county/state services. I benefited from good Wisconsin public schools when my family never could have afforded all sorts of things. Wish I could help more, but I can’t do it alone- need voters to insist those who benefit most from others pay more in taxes.</p>
<p>Local news is revealing more about Walker and it will be interesting to see how the recalll effort goes. Remember- students in dorms and apartments are residents and can vote. It will be an interesting 2012 open primary in this state. How many Democrats/Independents will help choose the Republican nominee next year?</p>
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<p>I’m not interested in starting an off topic political debate, but I just want to point out a couple things. First, Europe is not a state – the EU is a supranational entity, and the welfare states that exist within Europe and the EU can oftentimes vary considerably. Secondly, the welfare states of Europe, despite their flaws, provide better healthcare at a cheaper cost per capita than our mixed system of public (i.e. Medicare and Medicaid) and private insurance. </p>
<p>Also, despite the gloom and doom from conservatives about welfare states being too costly a drain on the economy, the UK, which has had a welfare state since almost immediately after the end of WWII, still has the 6th largest economy in the world despite its small population size.</p>
<p>Oh, and I did an independent study on welfare states at UW with a professor;)</p>