<p>Is Columbia considered an extremely liberal campus? Are the professors and students accepting of conservative views? Are there many conservative professors and/or students? What about speakers?</p>
<p>Columbia has a vocal minority of very liberal/ socialist students, a majority of liberal moderate students, and a small but vocal conservative (more libertarian actually) population.</p>
<p>students represent the american electorate. a small/vocal minority of extremists (both liberal and conserv.) with the majority being somewhere in the middle</p>
<p>i disagree with slipper tho, the conservative minority is most certainly not libertarian. i've never spoken to someone who believes in self-ownership enough to be described libertarian</p>
<p>
[quote]
a small/vocal minority of extremists (both liberal and conserv.) with the majority being somewhere in the middle
[/quote]
</p>
<p>i like slipper's answer better here....i would not call the majority "in the middle" ...that implies that they are evenly distributed to the left and right.....the notable majority of columbia students r to the left of center there is no way you can say the students represent the american electorate....I'm sure that on columbia's campus gore and kerry would've won in landslides.</p>
<p>my answer is really based on the distribution that i saw on my floor this past year. it is possible my floor was a fluke but i really did find as many pro-choicers as i did pro-lifers (and other conservative vs. liberal issues one usually finds)</p>
<p>i'd go with slipper, many conservatives are mostly libertarian, but also support other conservative policies that don't deal with economic freedom. most of the top colleges are in general left of center. that considered i think columbia would be slightly more left than the average. but really, most people cant be put into a group. you'll find in general that people at columbia are well informed and concerned and so will form their opinions on matters, conforming less to a group than you would usually find. that said, the left is definitely more vocal than the right, or perhaps has far more support in the university and the surrounding community, faculty i feel is quite left. the minorities (in an opinion sense of the word) don't lie down though.</p>
<p>What about the professors? Do they tend to exert their views on the students, specifically in political science?</p>
<p>they're accused of that occasionally, most often by students who also have pre-set viewpoints and don't like it when someone expresses a viewpoint contrary to theirs.</p>
<p>In my experience, the professors tend to be much more open-minded than the students who complain. Many of those students use "academic integrity" as a shield to whine about their MEALAC professor saying that the state of israel isn't exactly a saintly institution (or whatever your example may be).</p>
<p>Professors don't really "exert" views on anyone. When my physics professor puts up Newton's Law of Gravity as an equation and talks about it, he's just stating the facts. If President Bollinger were to talk to his 1st-amendment class and say that he disagreed with a Supreme Court ruling, it would be a more arguable opinion, sure - but in both cases, they're not forcing students to accept those viewpoints. In the latter case, usually the professors are challenging their students to think critically about the various sides and draw their own conclusions, and it is that critical thinking skill that they're trying to develop. Such efforts can be misinterpreted, or executed poorly, but there aren't really any dogmatic professors who will grade your papers or exams down if you express an unpopular viewpoint. They will expect you to back your argument up, and may hold you to a slightly higher standard of proof if you are bucking conventional wisdom, but they're not jackasses about it.</p>
<p>There's an old phrase that applies to teaching: "Make people think they're thinking, and they'll love you. But if you make them really think, they'll hate you." That may apply to some of the situations you're thinking of.</p>