How would that work? You would check either a red or a blue box? I think having true diversity on college campuses and programs designed to foster the peaceful and respectful sharing of ideas and perspectives would be a step in the right direction. And I’m sure to a certain extent, this is already happening. I know I started college affiliating myself with one side and then my college experiences opened my eyes to a different reality and I am now associated with a different one. For those of us that are parents, continuing to remind our children to keep an open mind and to always consider the other side would help with that as well.
Some students may shy away from a school in which they believe they may be in the political minority. Everyone wants to and has a right to feel comfortable.
My two daughters are at colleges that I believe both parties are fairly represented…both a little more left than right but nothing glaring and I think people from either camp would feel comfortable. And probably good for them all to get in some healthy debates…again, always good to hear what the other side has to say. Just needs to be kept civil and respectful which I wou
I’m a big fan of political diversity and wished it existed every where. I don’t consider what exist now with our 2 party system as political diversity at all - it is part of the problem.
Anyhoo - diversity as attempted is about things that the students don’t choose or have control over. Political ideology is chosen and volatile and if any prospects thought it was useful in admittance it’d be exploited. We already see students attempt to exploit race/ethnicity in admissions.
Interesting podcast here by the never dull always controversial Glenn Loury on Harvard’s lawsuit “Affirmative Action At Harvard (Glenn Loury & Laurence Kotlikoff) https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=56975020&refid=asa”
Regarding political diversity, there is a front-page article in today’s Wall Street Journal about a FaceBook employee who who believes believe was fired because he donated to help a particular presidential candidate, which apparently didn’t go over well with other employees (while donating to his opponent was apparently fine).
Note that this is not proven true, but sounds likely given the recent Facebook uproar over a long-time friend of Kavanaugh showing up at his hearing for moral support.
Given that FaceBook recruits heavily from elite colleges, more political diversity at the elite colleges would likely help avoid this type of thought bubble at companies where only one political view is considered acceptable.
As collegemomjam pointed out, how would political affiliation diversity be executed in practice? A checkbox? Fill in the blank? This is not an immutable part of an applicant like race or ethnicity or parental SES, it can and does change. And could be used to advantage if applicants learned it might help them get in.
That said, the majority of young people tend to one end of the political spectrum, and some of those are not one or the other but third party. It’s not weird that the majority of college students reflect the preferences of the majority of people their age.
As professors go, I’m fine with political diversity as long as it’s not the “ignore science” type. Creationism (obviously fine at a religious college if teaching religion is the main objective), climate change denial, etc.
You’d have to find a lot of qualified applicants with a fairly uncommon (for that age group and demographic) set of political beliefs. See previous comment about checkboxes.
Probably most young adults are relatively apolitical or apathetic (see voting rates among young adults), even though they may generally lean left relative to the entire adult population if asked. However, some of the politically active can be really strongly opinionated (whether they are left-leaning, right-leaning, or otherwise, and whether or not they are well-informed), leading to noisy activism (or sometimes violence or incitement to violence).
As I said, it is a front page article of a national newspaper. And it fits with another incidence of a Facebook executive having to publicly apologize, not for a political belief, but the appearance of a political belief. And everyone there seems to think that is perfectly acceptable behavior. It’s bizarro world!
I will assume your flagship is OSU. OSU has 46% from the top 20% of the income distribution and 5% from the bottom 20%. OSU only has 9 times as many rich kids than poor kids, compared to the anti-diversity ratio of 13 for Amherst. OSU is vastly more diverse from a SES perspective than Amherst.
Since political party affiliation is NOT part of the application process, is it safe to assume that, assuming most elite schools lean left (some more heavily than others) that most kids that are getting into the elite schools are therefore more left than right?
I agree some of this is age, but it does seem like many of the elites lean left. Not sure there would be a way to “diversify” political thoughts and opinions. I feel like it is what it is. And it may change or the students’ opinions may change as they get older and experience more of reality and less ideology. Or perhaps (wishful thinking?) both sides will come more to the center…
With that said, my daughter is at Georgetown and the school is a little more left than right but really pretty split. I have been on campus a number of times and have seen advertisements for political and social clubs from both sides.Sometimes right next to each other. My daughter’s friends are a mixed bag…some liberals, some conservatives…they don’t really seem to clash. They are actually a really close bunch. Sometimes they have debates but they seem pretty friendly and they have fun with it. Not sure it’s like that everywhere, though.
Georgetown’s student profile shows they get most of their students from blue states, around 75%, now of course all of them are not Democrat, similarly the 25% from Texas, and the southern states are not all Republican, but you’re stating with a 75/25 base, the campus has to lean left and professors very left.
I said it leans left but I don’t think it is as left as Yale or Brown. I’m sure it’s not. My daughter has many friends from Blue states that lean totally right, for what it’s worth. Keep in mind a school like Georgetown draws a lot of students from Catholic Prep schools which have a lot of right leaning students.
I was wondering how political things would get there for her, but it seems like her expanded group at least doesn’t get too political at all. I think there are other groups on campus that are more vocal. But there does not seem to be much tension, even in these tense times. I’m happy about that.
My other daughter is at BC…similar demographic and a little more white and right, but still pretty split, and pretty amicable. Got a little awkward on election night in 2016 but they moved on pretty quickly.
Some schools canceled class the day after the 2016 election because students were so upset. We toured Wash U (really liked it) right after the election and they were still recovering. They had also had just hosted a debate so the students were really into it that year.
I think many kids lean in the same direction as their parents. Once off at college their political leanings might change. IT would be great to bring back discourse for all opinions not just the ones you support. I have often seen on CC statements to the vague effect: I believe in all parties just as long as they don’t x, y, or z. ( In other words people can say what they want just as long as their opinions agree with my own. Lol).
Well, I support all points of view and want to ensure that all people have free speech. Even if I don’t like it or agree with it, they have that right. I hope my kids will have the same opportunity I did, to hear other voices. At this point in time, it’s pretty unidimensional and angry. When I was in college we had a radical left fringe and a radical right fringe and both were pretty vocal. While I don’t agree with either, I still think about the arguments they used to sway people to their way of thinking.
I don’t believe in any type of hook (including legacy, race, SES) that one cannot control. If the kid can control it ( like sports or arts or some other talent then I think it’s part of who they are). So I likely wouldn’t go for a political affiliation “hook” Though I would like to see more diversity of opinion in this area.
That is likely the result of the overall political environment, which is unidimensional and angry, and where the politics of race/ethnicity/identity overrides everything else.
Perfect example of the ignorance of the US Constitution and the history of judicial decisions since the Founding of this country.
No, Mr. Shen, there is neither “an explicit” nor an implicit “American promise that if you work hard and play by the rules, you’ll be rewarded.” That’s a Chinese value, and a great one, but separate from core American values, which do include a promise of opportunity to participate in every effort – including competitive efforts-- that every other American is given. However, there has never been a guarantee of a particular result or an assumption that only particular results (a list somewhere in someone’s mind) can be equated with opportunity to achieve, be as successful as others, etc.
And by definition, competitive efforts imply quite the opposite of your statement. They acknowledge that not everyone who “works hard and plays by the rules” will reach a specific goal which includes, due to the finite limitations of educational institutions, fewer realizable results than attempts to reach those results.