Political culture

I’ve seen others ask this question, but haven’t seen an answer yet.

Our family is economically conservative, socially liberal/moderate. My son seems to have similar positions so far.

He is looking at colleges and universities in the Northeast and I am curious if some of these are more accepting of differing views. Where we live, if you are not a diehard liberal, people may key your car and honestly, I fear I would lose my job if my boss found out I’m not a liberal. I went to Smith, then ended up at Wellesley in the 80s and had similar experiences at both places - very, very liberal, keep my opinions to myself. Took poli sci at Wellesley in the 80s and the final was an essay answering why communism was so good for Asia.

Any thoughts on the political culture at Brandeis, Northeastern, Bowdoin, Bates? I see that Bowdoin offers a Democrat Club and not a Republican or Libertarian, for example. Ditto with Clark University when we visited a few years ago with our older child, though they had listed a Republican club. It’s not like he’s an activist, but I’d like to feel that if he ever spoke his mind about any political issue, he wouldn’t be hit or ostracized. Brandeis has Republican and Democrat and other clubs - are they really allowed to exist and speak or are they told to stay quiet in the corner? The university is outspokenly liberal itself.

Thanks for reading!

Look at Trinity and Holy Cross for less liberal NE LACs.

Thanks for responding. So far he’s not interested in either, because of their long list of course distributions. But, perhaps it is worth investigating more. Thanks again.

Your student will find like minds regardless of the college he attends…unless he chooses a very conservative school like Bob Jones, or BYU where really the bulk of the students most likely are conservative.

The whole campus doesn’t need to be the same persuasion as your student.

Asking about schools without giving your kid’s stats is really a shot in the dark.

I’m not asking about chances of getting in. I’m asking where people feel comfortable. No one can predict chances of getting in - my daughter got rejected from places she “should have” easily gotten into, 3 years ago, and she got into places no one thought she would get into. It’s a crap shoot.

I’m just asking if there is diversity of opinion on any campuses, or just other types of diversity (race, religion, etc).

Bates definitely has a Republicsan Club. In 2012 (when my son was a student) the clubs set up 3 adjacent rooms in the commons with a different channel (MSNBC, CNN and Fox) to watch the returns. My son had friends of all different political persuasions and one of his roommates and closest friends is the grandson of an R Senator (who passed away when they were Sophomores.)

Frankly, I think this meme that NE liberal arts colleges are only accepting of liberals (and liberal ideas) is bs. Now are a lot more students liberal - yes - because the area of the country they draw most of the student body is from the NE/mid Atlantic region and it’s a very liberal area.

Hi - thanks for that info. It is helpful to know that at least one college has some diversity. I feel my workplace is so politically hostile, I am cautious of it. Thanks.

Even Tufts where the dominant strain is liberal has a Republican Club. My son says Tufts turned him more conservative than he started out. One of the organizations he was involved with there was ALLIES. http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/programs/allies

My impression (just from college visits) is that there is a lot of overlap in the kinds of kids Tufts and Brandeis attract. (Interested in making a difference in the world not just in our country.)

Northeastern has a very career focused feel overall, so you might find it a good fit. The kids my daughter knows are too focused on getting ahead to worry too much about political differences.,

I think you’re likely to find a better fit at universities that have plenty of kids in professional majors (e.g., business, engineering) as well as liberal arts majors. The suggestion about Northeastern was a good one.

Interesting point, thanks! (Maybe part of why WPI felt “nicer”).

I agree with the suggestion of Northeastern. However, if you are willing to look outside the northeast by just a few 100 miles, William and Mary will give you a small univesity with a LAC feel and more diversity of political opinion.

My lefty daughter went to Northeastern, and was disappointed how apolitical the school was. (She liked it otherwise.) Not conservative, just apolitical. The students tend to be more pre-professional and practical in orientation.

Most of the Northeast LAC’s are materially left of center culturally, but most aren’t hardcore about it. Most schools aren’t toxic to what is effectively a moderate right of center conservative – they are the minority, but are accepted. A few don’t fix that definition. While I love Wesleyan, it would be unpleasant for someone with the political perspective you summarized, unless your student likes taking on a lot of people who are passionately of the opposite perspective and who consider a moderate conservative no different than the far right. Vassar would probably be a bad idea too. I think you’d be fine at most of the rest.

My S18 sounds frustratingly similar. While this suggestion is not in the NE, it may be a school to consider - Claremont McKenna. It’s one of the CA consortium schools.

Part of whether a given school is “too liberal” or “too conservative” is also in the eye of the beholder depending on where he/she falls on the political spectrum.

For instance, while I’d agree that NEU tends to be mostly apolitical, I’ve also known of conservative NEU alums and Boston area folks who felt NEU was “too liberal” for their tastes.

Similarly, Columbia U from my observations as a frequent visitor and past student is quite centrist with large vocal libertarian-right/conservative and progressive left-leaning groups being equally active and loud. There’s also an active campus group of military vets and career officers who are either going back to finish their undergrad or doing their graduate work in order to fulfill a prereq to start their assignment teaching at one of the FSAs.

However, to most Oberlin classmates from my era('90s) who attended Columbia for grad school, Columbia is “too damned conservative” for them and to most conservative mass media and Columbia parents/students/alums, Columbia is “too damned liberal”.

Also, political cultures can change over time. For instance, Oberlin seems to have become much more politically mainstream/less radical lefty in the last 10 or so years compared to when I was a student there.

Nowhere near the number of campus-wide protests and being a mainstream Democrat is now accepted whereas back when I attended, even being a Green Party member meant one was considered “too damned conservative” by many classmates.

Upshot for OP’s child: Strongly recommend campus visits during the school year and talking with HS alums and friends who are attending or have recently graduated from the colleges being considered.

The left wing voices are the dominant voices on almost every college campus, but they do not represent everyone. One of the questions my daughter asked in every single college interview was whether conservative students could be at home on that campus. (She’s not really a social conservative, but didn’t want to live in an echo chamber!) I recommend that your child do the same. The answers, and the non-answers, will help with the decision process.

Although many faculty members lean to the left, I think that Dartmouth’s culture has always been a little less liberal: apolitical, if not conservative. Greek life has been more important there than at other, similarly elite colleges, and they are famous for their “Old Boy” network and pipeline to Wall Street. If you want to expand your search beyond New England, you would probably find that Hamilton, Hobart, Bucknell, and Lehigh are comfortable fits.

Your son would be fine at those, although probably in the minority as someone who holds fisically conservative views.

I would avoid far left-wing places like Hampshire, Bennington, Bard, and Sarah Lawrence. I’ve noticed that students who come out places like these tend to have very warped/unrealistic worldviews…

Back when I was in HS in the early-mid '90s, Dartmouth and Princeton were Ivies highly popular among the highly vocal GOP/Ayn Rand Libertarians classmates.

On the flipside, the more radical liberal progressive HS classmates made it a point to avoid applying to those two Ivies and tended to gravitate towards Brown and to a lesser extent Harvard.

Schools like my alma mater Oberlin were considered far too radical left even for most of the radical liberal progressive classmates. Incidentally, I practically ignored political cultural considerations when I chose my alma mater…academics and FA/scholarship package were my priorities back then.