I’m a high school senior currently applying, and I was wondering how politically active are the students on campus? I’m looking into studying political science and care a lot about a politically engaged campus, so I was curious as to what kind of presence politics have on campus.
It’s been many years since I was an undergraduate there but I’m guessing it has not changed all that much. It was very conservative in the late 80s (Paul Ryan was a few years behind me) so if you’re of that philosophy then it will be fine for you. If not, you’ll probably still be fine, but you’ll have less of a pool of like-minded peers.
I disagree with veehee’s assessment. I graduated in 1993, but have a niece who graduated in 2013 and two other nieces currently at Miami; so I think I can provide a more accurate assessment. The political leanings at Miami University have changed significantly over the past 20 years. Yes, Miami has a history of generating conservative politicians and journalists up through the early 90’s (Paul Ryan, PJ O’Rourke, Mike DeWine, etc.) and definitely was strongly conservative up until then. However, the student body favored Obama in both 2008 and 2012. While no final official count has been announced, student polls showed a very slight majority for Clinton in 2016. Based upon feedback from my nieces and my own observations visiting the campus regularly, the student body now seems pretty evenly split between conservative and liberal. The student body is considerably more ethnically diverse now as well. However, walking around campus, Miami has the look and feel of being socially conservative (some preppy attire, red brick architecture, etc.) At the same time, the LGBTQ student group now holds popular drag show fundraisers. This would be unheard of in the 80s. In regard to political activism, I wouldn’t consider Miami to be an activist hotbed compared to a typical, small, liberal, private college. However, I know that there definitely is political activism - but participation is in the dozens or hundreds instead of thousands. Given Oxford’s remote location, many protesters prefer to head to Cincinnati 35 minutes away to participate in larger protests there. For example, recent articles in the Miami Student newspaper online discuss student participation in recent Cincinnati protests against police brutality against minorities.
@LoveandHonor - Your observations seem right to me. I have a son at Miami now. I don’t have as many data points as you do, but my sense is that Miami’s student body averages in the middle of the pack politically, but is comfortable with fairly wide variations in either direction. It is hardly Oberlin, but it’s not Bob Jones either.
@LoveandHonor glad to hear it’s improved. But considering its location, I doubt it’s a hotbed of political activism.
@veehee - I don’t see how location has much to do with political activism. Oberlin College is one of the most liberal universities in the nation (number one on some lists) and it’s located in Oberlin, Ohio, which is very rural. Other red-state examples are Grinnell College in very rural Grinnell, Iowa, and Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana,
@Beaudreau I agree there are liberal places everywhere. However if the OP wanted a place for political discourse, I wouldn’t send them to southwestern Ohio.
@veehee - Fair point.
Political Activism today is one sided on most campuses…Maybe that is why we don’t have enough engineers and scientists graduating from colleges.
As I recall, several years ago the College Republicans were supposedly the second largest student group, and the Democrats third.
It’s a big enough school to find everything from tree hugging hippies to … whatever the corresponding thing is.
Would someone with a more liberal stance be okay there then? I’m from MA and have been accepted and I’m a little worried I won’t fit in. Is there a wide variety of political beliefs? Do the professors seem to lean one way or the other?
@ciara2012 - This is generally discussed above. Also, Clinton carried Oxford, Ohio, with 2/3 of the votes. Trump carried Butler County. So it’s a fairly liberal island in a Republican part of the state. You won’t have any problems.
@ciara2021 it won’t be an issue because you’ll find like-minded people on campus. Oxford is a great college town and Cincinnati is short car ride away if you need a city vibe.
@Beaudreau @veehee Okay thank you!
OP seems more concerned with activism than with whether the school leans liberal or conservative. Activism can come from anywhere on the political spectrum, just have to have people who care enough about something to be vocal. My impression is that Miami isn’t very active compared to say, American University.
@Beaudreau @ciara2021 Most of Ohio is conservative with pockets of liberal-ness. Most of those pockets are metropolitan: Columbus, Cleveland. I get the sense that Cincinnati is a bit more conservative, but I could be wrong. However, even in the most republican of counties you can find an active group of democrats. And they are definitely active at this point because of pending changes in the federal admin. My own D is accepted to Miami and I have told her that she’s going to have to find her people because she’s very liberal minded.
@Janniegirl It might take a little looking but she’ll find them. I think Miami, while generally attracting a conservative student, has plenty of “less than conservative”, liberal and undecideds too. It’s not a hot-bed of political activism though and if people want that feel it might not be for them. But overall it’s a mixed bag of ideas since it’s college and the students are learning to expand their comfort zones and consider other’s ideas.
Miami is a great university and a wonderful college town. I am fairly liberal and found lifelong friends during my four years!
Good luck to your daughter!