<p>I will be at Cornell next fall, and I really want to get a good perspective of the campus. Do you find it to be a more conservative environment, or a more liberal one? Please share any examples or funny stories! Thanks!!</p>
<p>considering it's one of the premier universities in the world with some of the most distinguished students and faculty ... it's obviously going to the liberal side (like the other Ivy's). Overall, 143 profs have donated nearly $100,000 to Obama's campaign, while 2 have donated to McCain's (source: the daily sun). </p>
<p>The conservatives are the ones making the stories, but not in a funny or a good way. Rather, in a very offensive way:</p>
<p>see here: Students</a> Want “Cornell” Name Out of Review Title | The Cornell Daily Sun</p>
<p>There was also that article two years ago that suggested white people carry guns around because of the dangerous black people in Ithaca.</p>
<p>I am pretty moderate (seriously, I don't really know who I'm going to vote for yet) and I find that Cornell is not stifling in any way. when I've watched the debates I've been in mixed political company and it's really nice.
I find the current troubles with the Review to be really annoying.
academically, I can't really say, because I'm taking mostly science courses, and it would be strange to talk politics there...maybe it happen in science classes at some schools, but I haven't seen it yet.</p>
<p>But even if the people on the Review are "conservatives" I wouldn't say that they represent the views of all conservatives on campus. The writers on the Review staff create a prejudiced ideology that leads to hatred and separation under the cloak of conservative values. </p>
<p>Other than that issue, the political atmosphere is inclusive. Most of the time Cornell students are debating the weather, prelims, or Slope Day even. Because we don't have direct access to daily news we don't know what going on all the time in the real world.</p>
<p>"Because we don't have direct access to daily news we don't know what going on all the time in the real world."</p>
<p>ummmm ... what?? Cornell pays for you to get free copies of the New York Times and USA Today. Furthermore, the TV's around campus (RPU, Appel, etc) are playing news channels like CNN, and when I ate breakfast at Cook, they'd be blasting CNN on the big projector. You also appear to have a computer and know how to use the internet - type in a news website, you should have no problem with knowing what's goin on in the 'real world'. Cornell was even hosting mass debate showings where students from all over campus could watch and learn. Or, you can forget everything I've said and just turn on the dang TV.</p>
<p>yea there's all that, but it's not our priority to look at it. How is watching CNN in Oken gonna help me in the Spanish prelim I have after lunch when I should be going over verb tenses? Or how does watching CNN in RPCC relax me while I'm taking a break from writing a 10-page paper due the next day?</p>
<p>What I'm saying is, and I am not trying to start an argument here, most Cornell students are too caught up what affects us immediately, academically or socially(sometimes financially), to care about what's happening in the rest of the country or world. </p>
<p>But that is a problem you find with most young people, especially those sheltered on a campus in a small town.</p>
<p>That may be for some students...but I believe we have a responsibility to stay informed. Every morning I took 10 minutes to scroll through cnn.com and nytimes.com to get an idea of what was going on so I didn't feel like a total idiot.</p>
<p>btw...Ithaca is not a small town. Before I moved to New Orleans I came from a town of 2,000 people...that's small.</p>
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What I'm saying is, and I am not trying to start an argument here, most Cornell students are too caught up what affects us immediately, academically or socially(sometimes financially), to care about what's happening in the rest of the country or world.
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<p>That's your problem. Most Cornell students I know are more than adequately caught up as to what is happening in the real world. </p>
<p>And hate to break it to you, but if you think that studying your verb tenses and gossiping with class mates leaves you with no time to do anything else, wait until you enter the real world.</p>
<p>You all are acting like people on campus regularly discuss at Trillium how many points the Dow dropped the day before, or the recent polls on Obama vs. McCain. You can't refute the fact that the average college student is not too knowledgeable about recent politics, especially politics that does not readily affect them.
I mean look at the Daily Sun...that publication should be covered page to page with news about this historic election, and yet it still only has like 3-4 stories each issue.</p>
<p>I am not trying to say that you, personally, don't know what is going on or even I, but if you ask 50 Cornellians on Ho Plaza to explain an issue like the financial crisis and what party supports the bailout plan and who doesn't, some might know, others might not, and many will wave you off thinking that you're passing out quartercards</p>
<p>Please get off your high-horses. You watch the news and you can read the paper, justifying that fact by trying to start an argument on an online forum is pathetic.</p>
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Especially politics that does not readily affect them.
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<p>If you believe that the current political and economic situation does not affect the average student then you are desperately out of touch.</p>
<p>There are some stupid liberals and conservatives who are ******bags when it comes to politics, but most people are friendly and reasonable. I think that the majority of students here are liberal, but there is also a strong conservative presence.</p>
<p>do you understand the word "readily"? The FINANCIAL crisis is financial not an economic one. For most people in America(and especially college students), losing money is nothing new anyway. Unless your father is in IB, or you had a job with Merill Lynch, life is the same.</p>
<p>The guys who live on my hall are talking about how much money they've lost in the market every morning at breakfast, no joke. They're mostly AEM majors, though, so maybe that makes a difference.</p>
<p>I'm really liberal and I come from a really liberal place (Northern Virginia) and I was frankly shocked at how many conservative people there are here. I know that the majority of the campus is still liberal, but my friends are pretty much split straight down the middle. My closest friend so far is super conservative, actually (so we try not to talk about politics around one another).</p>
<p>"You all are acting like people on campus regularly discuss at Trillium how many points the Dow dropped the day before, or the recent polls on Obama vs. McCain"</p>
<p>Well, yeah - they do. I did at least, and accordingly all of my friends did as well. We saw it as part of our duty as students at Cornell, and you should as well. </p>
<p>"You can't refute the fact that the average college student is not too knowledgeable about recent politics"</p>
<p>Really? Ask us a question then. Did you miss that rather large Obama/Clinton debate thread a while ago? Did you miss the article about all of the students gathering around for the debate? Did you even know there was a debate going on?</p>
<p>"I mean look at the Daily Sun...that publication should be covered page to page with news about this historic election, and yet it still only has like 3-4 stories each issue."</p>
<p>Only 3-4 political stories in each issue ... sure, but the paper is like what, 20 pages long? Not bad! Not even the Times is covered page to page with politics. </p>
<p>"Unless your father is in IB, or you had a job with Merill Lynch, life is the same."</p>
<p>Or if you're one of the 20% of Cornell students who ends up in the financial industry every year. Or if you're in the other 80% who now has to compete with the other 20% since they'll no longer be trying for the Wall St. jobs. And trust me, unless you save money in a piggy bank, you will be affected. Good luck in the job market that has been consistently shrinking for many months on end - you might want to read up on it a bit.</p>
<p>In my apartment the news is on all day long, and we watch the debates and talk about politics every day. I often find myself a Trillium or in all of my classes talking about what is going on in the market or in politics. I think if you are a freshman, maybe you will be more out of touch, but that is only if you are not proactive about checking the news. I know any senior or junior looking for jobs/internships is talking about how the market will affect that.</p>
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do you understand the word "readily"? The FINANCIAL crisis is financial not an economic one. For most people in America(and especially college students), losing money is nothing new anyway. Unless your father is in IB, or you had a job with Merill Lynch, life is the same.
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<p>Right. Let me know when you might have difficulty applying for a private student loan because the credit markets have completely frozen up. And let me know when the University has to announce a hiring freeze or a change to its financial aid policies on account of the economic crisis.</p>
<p>And then come back to me a decade from now, after we have exhausted ourselves as a country trying to figure out how to solve the looming Medicare/Medicaid budgets, our dependence on foreign sources of energy, what to do with a whole lot of vacant houses in the American southwest, and the addiction that the entire world has developed to cheap, unsustainable credit.</p>
<p>Sorry, but you're in the minority on this one.</p>
<p>Hmm, well if you look and at numerous polls and studies, college students, or young people in general, are not up-to-date on recent news. </p>
<p>And from the way that you talk about the credit crunch now, I can tell that you don't really understand what is going on. Calling it a economic crisis is already a fault that I pointed out. </p>
<p>And everything that you said about Medicaid/Medicare, dependence on energy, and vacant property(oh and I applaud you for knowing the issues on the platforms of Obama and McCain) will have an impact on us Cornellians months, years, and decades from now, but do they help me ace a Calc prelim tomorrow? Not unless the question is about how much should the reserve rate be if investment is down 40%. </p>
<p>Basically, and I'm going to try to end on a good note here, people in general, tend to care about things that affect their life immediately and dramatically. Something like, "OMG, Bush has decided to draft everyone over 18, even those in college. And they like have to leave tomorrow!" It's natural. That's why most people do not like to discuss politics unless it's having a laugh about whatever stupid thing Sarah Palin said last night. </p>
<p>Even college students at an elite university at Cornell are like this. To graduate with a Bio degree, you will not need to know what is on the front page of the NYT graduation day. </p>
<p>Me, I try to know, even abroad, but I'm a government major and my teachers ask in classes. That is not the same for everyone else.</p>
<p>So the political atmosphere is not stifling at Cornell day to day. But if you do say that you support McCain aloud you will get more than a few stank faces.</p>
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And from the way that you talk about the credit crunch now, I can tell that you don't really understand what is going on.
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<p>Wow. Just wow.</p>
<p>Holy cow. To be that in the blind about everything. </p>
<p>Furthermore: "I'm a government major" - how can you be a government major and be this out of touch with everything that's happening around you???? This is just incredible, absolutely incredible.</p>
<p>Colleges in general have liberal leanings, so Cornell is probably liberal but Ann Coulter graduated from there so there probably are conservatives as well.</p>