I’ve been looking into politically active colleges and universities, but most of them (looking at you, Berkeley) tend to be aggressively liberal. As a liberal who would probably be considered “radical” by some conservatives, i have no issue with liberals. My problem is with campuses that will bully you into submission if you oppose their views. What’s the point of a politically active college if you can’t even freely discuss your opinion? Are there ANY colleges where this exists? I like the idea of a liberal arts college but, you know, they’re called “liberal” arts for a reason.
Side note: I have a good GPA, take quite a few IB, and scored a 32 on my ACT. I’m open to big state schools, but some prestige would be nice.
I’d say your assessment of LACs may not be accurate. Within the classroom they are much of the time non-ideological. Outside of the classroom, an intelligent liberal will reject even progressive ideas if they believe they are packaged and presented unfairly.
Perhaps some of the excellent Catholic schools like Notre Dame, Georgetown, BC would have a more mixed political climate. I’m sure there are many LACs that would work as well (for example my D is at Lafayette and she has come across people with many different viewpoints).
Try this out: Ask yourself what a politically active conservative college would look like? If that doesn’t strike you as an oxymoron then there’s no easy answer for you.
^^ That wasn’t how I read the post. I thought the OP was looking for a college where even if the climate was liberal, other views - including conservative - would be welcome to speak. Some feel that many campuses are no longer allowing dissenting voices to be heard, for example rejecting Condoleeza Rice as a speaker because of her role in the Bush administration.
As for what does a politically active conservative school look like - it looks like Liberty.
You might want to pick up a book called “Choosing the Right College.” It assesses the political climate and levels of free speech for conservative views found at a variety of LACs and universities. The author also indicates which courses can constitute a strong core program in Western Civilization at which schools.
As for schools where conservative values hold sway, you can look at Hillsdale, Hampton Sydney, Liberty, Bob Jones, Brigham Young, Pepperdine, etc., as well as many of the Catholic schools mentioned and some not mentioned (e.g. Providence, University of Dallas)
Everywhere else, you should find a pretty mixed bag, although places like Swarthmore and Amherst might have a few too many SJWs (social justice warriors) for your taste. The aforementioned book will tell you about niche programs within larger universities as well.
I think that this whole issue is a pox on our times, not just in college. The inability to listen to the “other side” appears on both the right and the left. Opposing sides in my own family seem to be unable to even mention either political candidate names or bring up any political topics without anger and vitriol. My brother in law’s brother won’t talk to the rest of the family because they had a political disagreement, and when my daughter gave a presentation this week in her high school a kid walked out of the classroom and didn’t come back because he disagreed with my daughter. I hope that the ability take in and process disagreeable information both in college and out comes into vogue at some point soon. It unfortunately rears it’s ugly head around CC all the time…
We are trying to find this mythical “middle-of-the-road” college that doesn’t restrict free speech or try to indoctrinate students one way or the other. One resource the OP should look at is:
They rate various colleges based on how restrictive of free speech the schools are. The following have been given the “green light” as having minimal restrictions on free speech. You might find what you are looking for there.
Arizona State University
Black Hills State University
Carnegie Mellon University
Cleveland State University
Duke University
Eastern Kentucky University
George Mason University
Georgetown College
Mississippi State University
Oregon State University
Plymouth State University
Purdue University
Purdue University Calumet
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
State University of New York – Brockport
The College of William and Mary
University of Florida
University of Maryland – College Park
University of Mississippi
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
University of North Florida
University of Pennsylvania
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
University of Utah
University of Virginia
Western State Colorado University
It is not popular in this website, but as @LoveTheBard said, “Choosing the Right College” is a great resource in that it gives social commentary that other guides lack.
The mentioning of specific political figures will tend to further politicize this topic. However, as a generality, I would say that a speaker being evaluated based on her “role in” (#5) something would appear to be an entirely substantive basis on which to center a debate.
@merc81 - the problem is not debate - debate is good. The problem is speaking engagements being canceled because of objections by student groups. That eventually has the effect of ensuring the only speakers that come on campus are those that reinforce the dominant view. That stifles debate.
@InigoMontoya: My opinion on this would depend on the positioning of the speaker. That is, will the person in question be part of a panel, a lecture series, the primary graduation speaker? The considerations for these potential invitations might reasonably be quite different.
Claremont-McKenna might also be ideal. They attract more conservatives than other colleges within their consortium, and in CA overall, because they have always had a somewhat pre-professional tilt. They have very strong Debating and Model UN teams. Whitman is another option, if you are interested in a more rural, outdoorsy vibe.
I’d just like to say that @GMTplus7 read my post completely different from what I intended. The whole “I’m a liberal” thing was just to establish that I’m not a conservative who is opposing liberal colleges. I’m a liberal looking for a college where discussion is open between both sides, without policing alternate views (let conservatives speak!!! they’re not an alien species, people). Also, thank you to everyone who replied! The tips have been extremely helpful!
“Everywhere else, you should find a pretty mixed bag, although places like Swarthmore and Amherst might have a few too many SJWs (social justice warriors) for your taste.”
You mean the Amherst College where recent speakers have included Newt Gingrich, Charles Krauthammer, Bay Buchanan, Dinesh D’Souza, Karl Rove, Michael Steele, Scott Brown, GW Bush speechwriter Mary Kate Cary, conservative writer Mosab Yousef, and climate change denier Patrick Moore?
I would welcome any information on this, but, my impression is that none of those colleges are particularly active politically. There may be a lot of students who harbor conservative opinions, but I don’t see a particularly strong student culture underpinning any of them. If anything it’s just the opposite: student behavior, from what I understand, is highly regulated; their administrations and boards of trustees are highly sensitive to bad publicity and the wrong move by any organizers of any event that doesn’t have their blessing could find themselves in deep trouble. Bottom line: If you thrive on controversy, you’re better off at a liberal college
@ThankYouforHelp Amherst was probably a bad example. I hadn’t known about their invited speakers series; I was basing my comment on last fall’s “Amherst Uprising” and the climate described in the aforementioned book (“Choosing the Right College”).
Perhaps a better example might have been Oberlin, whose students recently protested cultural appropriation regarding food served in their dining halls…
In any event, the Atlantic Monthly had an interesting article last fall, entitled “The Coddling of the American Mind,” which dealt with political correctness gone awry on college campuses: