<p>How liberal or conservative is the University? …I’m guessing it’s fairly conservative, but more liberal than the rest of the state?</p>
<p>I attended Bama from 87-91. For most of my years there, the campus seemed conservative for the most part, though there are enough “liberals” to allow for interesting debates, and the longstanding presence of such organizations as the Lesbian, Gay Student Group, etc. There were a lot of religious students, but a lot of non religious ones as well, whose behavior belied their “conservative” values. On Get on Board day, the College Republicans seemed like the more popular group, till Clinton ran for president, and the line for the College Democrats was much longer than that for the Repubs. Also, Bama has a fairly significant Jewish population, with a Jewish Frat and Sorority, and I remember that it had a good number of Arab International students as well. If you are “liberal” (are these terms even relevant today?) you might want to join the Campus Peace and Justice Coalition, if it still exists.</p>
<p>It sounds like there is a good mix. I’m very glad to hear that.</p>
<p>The campus is a mix of left, middle, and in between.</p>
<p>Are the people on campus politically active in general?</p>
<p>Political activism really depends on the student, I’d say that UA as a whole is not majorly active when compared to some schools, but you will still find lots of students who are politically active.</p>
<p>From what I’ve experienced, UA tends to be more liberal than AL as a whole, but is still more of a center-right campus. I myself seem to interact more with left-leaning students, but IIRC, of all my UA friends on facebook, it is a pretty even split between the two.</p>
<p>From my experience, the Honors College is much more liberal than the rest of the school, but that does not mean it is very liberal. I would say the HC is close to the center.</p>
<p>Since the school was Obama Country during the last election, I would definitely say the school is not conservative. However, I would say that the Greeks tend to be more conservative…but that’s typical at a lot of schools.</p>
<p>The campus is conservative more or less, although it has its liberal elements (see the chalking scandal last year for evidence of this.) I would agree that the Greek system is one of the more conservative groups on campus, though there are many liberal Greeks. The Honors College tends to lean slightly more to the left, as previously stated, although there are certainly many conservative Honors students. Many students are politically active; however, many students are entirely apathetic to politics, both campus and state/national.</p>
<p>The chalking scandal sounds intriguing - please tell more!</p>
<p>i think it was actually national news…some atheists wrote something in chalk on a quad, like all the religious groups did, and it got erased</p>
<p>the atheists did it again and got erased again…then it became big news and the alabama atheists facebook group exploded in size</p>
<p>[Changing</a> Tides | Because you oughta know](<a href=“http://www.changingtides.ua.edu/issues/spring2010/articles/chalking.html]Changing”>http://www.changingtides.ua.edu/issues/spring2010/articles/chalking.html)</p>
<p>im not familiar with this obviously…maybe some can fill in on this</p>
<p>When we visited campus the campaigning for student government elections was in full swing, and the sidewalks were chalked all over with entreaties to vote for whomever. It was pretty cool. My son stumbled across an abandoned piece of yellow chalk near the science complex and left a (friendly) Hawaiian version of “Kilroy was here” in pidgin English. Don’t know if it got erased. :)</p>
<p>On a more serious note, siglio21, we had the same questions when initially considering Bama last fall. I’m originally from California and wrote to m2ck about this. She is also from California and was very convincing, and helpful, in persuading us that UA is sufficiently mixed that this would be a non-issue for our son.</p>
<p>ya i’m an asian who’s not particularly religious and quite liberal, so i had a little concern about how well the people there would accept me if i were to go</p>
<p>^^^You might want to communicate with kraziespaghetti as she experiences UA this year. She’s Asian and from California. And I assure you my son would accept you. 
Asians and persons of mixed race comprise the majority of students at his high school.</p>
<p>Malanai & Siglio, the prevailing culture was a consideration for our family also.
Having lived as a fairly liberal person in the bible belt my entire life I’ve learned to gauge the atmosphere of a place pretty quickly. To me, Bama felt friendly and open and at a glance I’d say there were all types of kids there. I suppose that anytime you have a large group of people coming from so many different places and backgrounds you are bound to get a nice mix.<br>
I’m convinced that my D will find her place at Alabama. She is coming from a large public school with a very diverse population and has made friends both liberal & conservative, religious and non-religious. I suspect she’ll Bama to be similar.</p>
<p>Couldn’t agree with you more, timeflew. We got the same vibe as you when we were on campus.</p>
<p>“Show me a young Conservative and I’ll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I’ll show you someone with no brains.”
— Winston S. Churchill</p>
<p>So don’t worry libs. By the time you’re 30 you’ll be a conservative too if you have any brains j/k</p>
<p>In all seriousness, I’d say Bama leans slightly to the right. But it’s certainly not a place where liberals will be by themselves or outcasts. And as the enrollment of out of state students continues to increase I think the campus will become more and more centered.</p>
<p>I think it’s hard to say. The profs will more likely lean to the left. The students will be all over the place. </p>
<p>As for the extreme actions of the few. That will happen on every campus. On various campuses, we heard one political group complain that the other side’s group steals its free publications and vice versa. One side will complain that the other side will drown out its guest speakers (Columbia anyone?). </p>
<p>I don’t think Bama has had much of those problems, but probably some. </p>
<p>Anyway, no “side” will feel alone at Bama.</p>
<p>As for the Asian numbers. Bama’s Asian numbers aren’t high as Calif colleges are, but the numbers are more concentrated in certain fields. Therefore, if you’re going to major in - say - the sciences, business, music performance, and engineering - there will likely be a greater concentration than some other majors. But, no matter what major you choose, Bama students aren’t going to have some weird issues with having Asian students as classmates, roommates, and friends.</p>
<p>I’ll add that UA has many international students, particularly from Asian countries, so that adds to the number of Asian students you will see on campus. You’ll be well accepted no matter your religion or political beliefs, provided you are respectful towards others. UA is not as liberal as San Francisco or Seattle, in my experience (the Asian population is also quite smaller), but you will find similar-minded people on campus.</p>