<p>Couldn't find any threads on this, hoping students/alums can comment. Here are some opening questions to get conversation started:</p>
<p>What is the political atmosphere like at MIT? How much of the student body actively follows/discusses politics and world events? How does MIT's being so math and science oriented affect political views and discussion?</p>
<p>I myself plan on majoring in math, but I do spend a lot of time talking politics/philosophy with my friends at school and really hope that won't be lost at MIT. And if not, am interested in how that could change. My school right now, for standard of comparison, is pretty similar to a typical college campus (mostly liberal, with activist streak among women's rights, LGBT, environmental, anti-genocide, etc., some conservative presence but not strong, often dominated by white males. liberal faculty, willing to bring views into the classroom).</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I’m talking about my part of MIT. Others’ experiences may vary :P</p>
<p>The people I know at MIT range from indifferent to politics, to extremely involved. Many of my alum friends especially become super involved. The overall atmosphere is very strongly liberal/Democrat, with disagreements being more over fiscal issues than social ones. Though you get people on both sides regardless, though frankly many of them either go Democrat, become quiet on politics outside of private conversations, or find more conservative pockets.</p>
<p>Philosophy’s a completely different story. I think most people here like talking philosophy :P</p>
<p>The 2000’s were probably more politically charged than is typical at MIT. In the 90’s, I never remember people identifying with one party or another.</p>
<p>Interestingly, McCain won a mock presidential poll at MIT in 2000 over Al Gore and George W. Bush. MIT may have drifted to the left with the controversy of the Iraq war. </p>
<p>Back in the 60’s, the MIT student body president was thrown out of school for incessant Vietnam protests.</p>
<p>I do remember that an MIT student ran for Cambridge City Council.</p>
<p>I think most but not all undergraduates are mostly indifferent to politics. There is probably a strong consensus for social liberalism but this presumably varies widely by living group. I don’t think the math and science focus affects political views very much. The demographic makeup of MIT skews fairly Democratic though. Political discussions aren’t as prevalent as at schools like Harvard but I think you can find them if you actively seek them. Some departments (11, 14 and 17) care quite a bit about certain types of policies as well. I think the student who ran for Cambridge city council was a Sloan graduate student as well [MIT</a> Graduate Student Runs for City Council, Hopes to Represent Students - The Tech](<a href=“http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N40/cheung.html]MIT”>http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N40/cheung.html).</p>
<p>Sure? They’ve often complained to me that they can’t talk as much as they’d like to about their politics because people will jump down their throats. It doesn’t mean they don’t exist.</p>
<p>Although I cannot speak as to the present situation, in my experience I knew many, especially from entrepreneurial and small business owner families, who were fiscally conservative and free market fans, but were not politically active. Likewise, many kids from immigrant families that had escaped totalitarian regimes had more libertarian views, strongly supporting individual freedoms and rights and afraid of a strong, centralized government. However, these kids tended to be focused on academics to make their own opportunities, not activism, so they were not as apparent on campus. MIT kids tended to be supportive and accepting of each other, regardless of views. Has it changed today? I don’t know, but admissions does try hard to accept “nice” kids.</p>
<p>Ok, pretty helpful in terms of getting a general view, but would appreciate more specifics if possible. If you yourself have a strong political interest what was your MIT experience like? What was the campus like around the 2012 election?</p>
<p>I mean, it’s not supposed to be a surprise that MIT students aren’t as politically involved/devoted as Harvard/Yale/etc students, but I still hope there would be some basic levels of activity, right?</p>
<p>MIT is made of people, so obviously there’s going to be variety. I have a friend who took a gap year before coming here to basically run the 2008 Obama election efforts in my hometown. On the other hand, me and my friends tend not to talk about politics much because we’re split fairly evenly between democrats and republicans and are very passionate about our beliefs about what this country should be doing and we like to not get mad at each other.</p>
<p>I would say that people at MIT are very politically active, but mostly when it comes to politics within the Institute. A lot of people here feel very strongly about changes made by the administration that have the potential to impact student life and culture. One of the first things I did at MIT during my CPW was participate in a protest.</p>
<p>I’m a current freshmen who follows politics fairly closely but doesn’t actively volunteer for causes. Campuswide there wasn’t a huge amount of interest in the election although various groups help debate watching parties that were decently attended. There is a student group The Forum that hosts political discussions although I thought the level of discussion wasn’t very high. Very few people wore campaign t-shirts or buttons though. When Nate Silver came to the Media Lab more people came than could fit in the auditorium though.</p>