<p>A generation or two ago, Stanford was neither the most liberal nor the most conservative of the elite schools. How does it stand now? Diversity is certainly up. I have heard that some find it conservative comparared to their siblings' experience at certain East Coast schools, but that is a very small sample. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>It looks like the school is becoming conservative. Not sure if it's a good thing/bad thing. In any event, if Stanford accepts me, I wouldn't care; as long as I get to follow my interest in Sociology once I'm there.</p>
<p>Yeah, the approx. rate is about 67% conservative - not sure about the source, but it's in that general trend.
it's kinda bumming me that stanford's going more conservative, which is a big reason why i'm still considering cornell and especially yale. yeah, yale is pretty liberal -it's known as the gay Ivy, and their senior class president is openly gay. i think.
but yeah, it's ok, once i get there, i think the conservative trend will reverse. lol.</p>
<p>67% of people here are conservative? Really? This school is hardly conservative. Most people I've met are liberal. The campus isn't all <em>that</em> politically active so even if it were mostly conservatives (which I still refuse to believe is possible) you'd hardly notice. Don't worry about that at all. It may be conservative compared to some other colleges, but that just means that those colleges are over-the-top liberal.</p>
<p>Hoover Institute......conservative .....on the campus and tolerated very well.
<a href="http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/</a></p>
<p>All of this a complete fallacy.</p>
<p>Stanford is MORE liberal than HYP. Why?
1. California, generally, is more liberal than the East Coast.
2. The student body tends to be very laid-back and tolerant. PC identity politics are the name of the game here.
3. Religious types tend to be rare.
4. The Stanford Review, the conservative newspaper, is universally disliked by the student body.</p>
<p>That 67% statistic is very far off the mark. It lacks credibility because it's simply 2/3.</p>
<p>No way. 67% conservative? Impossible. At most 35%.</p>
<p>lol Purplerain...........even if it is just 35%, that's changing too!</p>
<p>Does anyone else think that a more even political ratio is a good thing?</p>
<p>I'm a raging liberal, and I'd really really like to have conservatives on campus to debate.</p>
<p>yeah i agree tetragrammaton. one of my raging liberal friends wants to go to an ultraconservative school, just so he can challenge everyone. there's no fun in going to a school where everyone thinks exactly like you do.</p>
<p>35% is a pretty good number to have to debate with. Severeal thousand people.</p>
<p>Good!</p>
<p>Homogeneity of thought is never healthy, IMHO.</p>
<p>ahh, labels....</p>
<p>well, this is good news. i can't remember the link - I did see it on one of the unofficial websites and it really stuck to my brain, but i hope it's wrong anyway.
i love political debates and just talking with people that have an opinion whatsoever about the state of the union anway( NO ONE at my school knew who Cindy Sheehan was...ugh) - I'd just rather be somewhere where I'm not hated or anything.
yay raging liberals! lol</p>
<p>I'm a conservative
yay!</p>
<p>umm wait, what are we talking about?</p>
<p>The thing about political debates, no matter how long they last, both members believe what they have always believed and believe that the other person is stupid... This is generally the case</p>
<p>That's why I only argue with young, easily influenced kids
haha</p>
<p>Or, the debate is conducted well. And progress is achieved.</p>
<p>I, for instance, have changed my views after debates about animal rights and gun control. I'm far more centrist on these issues than I was before. And I'm pretty sure that I've altered the opinions of those who I've debated before. I used to spend hours every night debating on the ultraconservative youth site ProtestWarrior.com, and, while I didn't make anyone a liberal, I think I made several people moderate their views.</p>
<p>Stanford is anything BUT conservative. The Daily some months back looked into how people identify on facebook - 90% identified as 'liberal' or 'very liberal' (and no, we don't mean 19th century continental liberal).
Whoever gave you that 2/3 conservative number is clearly on crack. there are very few top schools (any?) where the majority identifies as conservative.</p>
<p>People have a superficially negative rejection to Hoover and conservatism. it's on the level of "Hoover? Ewww, cooties..." Will you be marginalised as a conservative? No. Like at any elite school, you'll feel intense esprit du corps. </p>
<p>Regardless of your leanings, you'll notice the campus is relatively apathetic. Most students, if you probe their views, are pretty moderate. They believe in capitalism with some level of redistribution - they're good social democrats. Nothing profound.</p>
<p>How about the level of political correctness?</p>
<p>Very high.</p>
<p>Identity politics is, sadly, the name of the game at Stanford. We even have racial theme dorms.</p>
<p>But that is to be expected in higher education today.</p>