<p>Ithaca = definitely liberal while most of the other upstate places are definitely conservative. But who cares about those other places if we don't interact w/ them? :)</p>
<p>Do Republicans (or politically conservative) have much of a voice in Cornell? Because I know Berkeley, which is infamous for its liberalness, has a huge Republican Club on campus. I'm just curious if the Republicans have much of a presence on campus. </p>
<p>Figgy (and other GT transfers): I'm glad to hear that you're all having such a great experience up in Cornell already! Keep us posted.</p>
<p>Republicans are generally laughed at for the most part, at least that's what it seems like for the conservative newspaper on campus...I think the American and the other one merged, they were both rather hysterical to read. But a lot of people are pretty conservative. I would have to say that say that as an engineering political discussion is rather muted. I wouldn't really know about those in other majors but most people are pretty moderate and I'm sure there's a fair amount of people that are on either side of the spectrum.</p>
<p>Ithaca is a extremely liberal, I've seen multiple political and protest rallies in the commons against Bush and the war in Iraq. Just the other day there were people in collegetown petitioning for federally funded health insurance (which I think is ludicrous...)</p>
<p>Cornell freshman in 2004 self-identify most often as liberal or very liberal (43%), followed closely by middle of the road (40%), with only 16.5% identifying themselves as conservative or very conservative. </p>
<p>See <a href="http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000083.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000083.pdf</a> page 3 for details. </p>
<p>Cornell students tend to be liberal, but if you're apathetic, moderate, or conservative you still have plenty of company. </p>
<p>As an ILR graduate I should mention that the only actual socialist I met was in A&S, and I didn't meet a communist at ILR; a minority were very interested in labor rights and the labor movement (citing democratic reasons, eg freedom of association and social activism), and they were quite outnumbered by those entering management, consulting, or finance. But again, you pick your clique, and in either event you have plenty of company.</p>
<p>I would say that Cornell is about as liberal as most college campuses simply by virtue of being a college. I'm a lifelong Democrat coming from an extremely liberal community, so having a good eight Republicans on my floor in our freshman dorm is totally refreshing. I'm politically liberal, but pretty straight-laced in terms of behavior and attitudes, so I was very happy to end up at a place where there is a healthy distribution of people across the political spectrum. That having been said, the level of political activity and awareness on campus is well below what I expected and wanted, but as a frosh, maybe I just haven't found the right people yet? </p>
<p>Also, in re ILR's leftist characteristics, it's definitely not a bastion of liberalism, even though it started out that way. When it was founded in 1946, the School was housed in trailers on the Vet Quad, and nicknamed the "Kardboard Kremlin" for the temporary housing and perceived left-leaning tendencies. Today, I know only a handful of ILRies who are genuinely interested in labor issues, and there's maybe one or two socialists on the faculty. </p>
<p>Ithaca is indeed a huge hippie town, which I thought was exaggerated until I got off-campus for the periodic festivals it hosts (Apple Harvest, Winter, etc.), the Farmers' Market, and the impressive shelf of marijuana-related magazines in the periodicals section of the local Borders.</p>
<p>Ya it is less politically active which I was disappointed about...but I also realized the key was joining liberal clubs and finding out about their events. There is even a meeting of liberal group leaders so that they can try to coordinate events. Once the elections get closer I'm sure everyone will become more active.</p>
<p>and all you had to do was go to Ashcroft to see the amazing level of liberal activism. It was sooo thrilling to be there during that protest!</p>
<p>Yeah, that protest was disgusting, not to mention that it blocked my view. I don't care if people don't like someone, but you don't have to block other peoples' views of the speaker. I mean, everyone there took out a considerable amount of time to attend this event, and to have such an utter lack of respect shown by a few people (at the expense of others) is despicable! </p>
<p>That said, it definitely was interesting to watch : )</p>
<p>I think the protest was great. It was a silent protest and they walked out after a while. The hecklers weren't part of them so I think that when u consider that these people could have done much worse...they did fine. A silent protest in which u leave after a while is fine. A protest isn't a protest if it doesn't ruffle some feathers...and since it did it got newspaper attention and everyone was talking about it after. That's the point...lol</p>
<p>ps Ashcroft totally deserved it. Ya he was being nice...but he was being a complete hypocrite. Going on and on about how he protects the constitution and how he has never traded off liberty and freedom for security...a whole bunch of BS. He talked the talk but he never walked the walk which is a complete insult to any educated person who knew wat the hell he was doing. And at a previous speaking engagement he talked about how Guantanamo was a good place and how he would be fine w/ being waterboarded...disgraceful!</p>