It seems to me that the more liberal and optically diverse colleges tend to have significantly less acceptance of diversity of opinion-specifically political opinions.
Contrarily, colleges known as “relatively” conservative have a greater diversity of on campus speakers and open discussions.
I have heard the same from a few professor friends who point out that there is a serious lack of real discourse in social science courses at their universities.
Either there are no libertarian/conservatives or they are afraid to speak in class due to fear of being judged “hateful.”
Every type of viewpoint is represented on every campus. I think it is silly to assume that a small minority of voices represents all student/professors viewpoints. There are many who may not be activists or come out with their opinions ( in these days for very good reasons) but they still have opinions. To seek out only the visually neat places where orthodoxy reigns and one viewpoint only speaks for the whole is missing the experience of education-to learn from other people. Also, there are very many young people who lean in one direction until they earn beaucoup bucks and start to rethink sharing the wealth. In many cases, it’s colleges which are extremely liberal or conservative will continue to attract the same ( as folks want ultra-orthodoxy). For the rest, politics is less important than getting a good education.
Also, I’d tell my own kids to be wary of schools with a very specific bent as you will be narrowing your job prospects down the road.
Well, if non-racist conservatives and libertarians would take back their side of the political spectrum from the noisy alt-right white nationalist/racist types (who tend to be mainly looking to incite fights rather than have polite discussions), then reasoned discourse may come back.
Here is an example: Top Dog is a popular restaurant with two locations near the Berkeley campus ( http://topdoghotdogs.com/ ). Its owners also have very libertarian viewpoints and are public about them ( http://topdoghotdogs.com/propergander.html ). But that did not stop students and others from eating there since 1966 (some of those earlier time frames include those when the students were much more left-leaning than now on most issues). The only time when there was a political fuss or threat of boycott over the restaurant was when an employee was photographed as part of the “Unite the Right” alt-right white nationalist/racist rally in Charlottesville last year. But that employee resigned and it blew over quickly.
@ucbalumnus
You are correct.
Though the same can certainly said for those “noisy” far left radicals-who preach open-mindedness and democratic principles -but quite often will go to drastic and even violent lengths to shut down any exposure to speakers or fellow students who do not share their values.
“shut down any exposure to speakers or fellow students who do not share their values.”
Those values like not being racists?
Thank you.
My point exactly.
There is a world of difference between fringe leftists who hide behind black masks because everyone else (including others who lean left) dislike them and want nothing to do with them, and the alt-right white nationalist/racist types who have supporters for their racist ideas at the highest levels of the government. The latter claiming that they are the “oppressed” is silly when their ideas are part of the ruling ideology at this time.