I’m mostly in agreement with what you say. I’m not sure all 17 and 18 year olds have the ability to make quality college choices. Some flexibility should be allowed for the individual student.
One of my four was very naive, brilliant but naive, so there would be no way I’d let her make a list of schools that I did not approve. It would’ve been sending a lamb into a den of wolves. The others got a lot more space to decide.
What are “general conservative values”? Sorry to be a stickler, but I really don’t know what those are.
I’m curious. Now that you’ve brought it up, what is your definition of “free speech”.
Here’s the list of colleges with the most conservative students that came out of student surveys by Princeton Review:
Your response reminds me what poster might want to avoid. Being challenged for conservative views at a PCU (movie reference) campus. Someone should be free to prefer a conservative as well as a social justice favoring campus.
Fair question. I’m trying to avoid a dictionary definition even though that’s pretty much what I believe. So maybe I answer what I feel is free speech on a college campus.
Equal opportunity to safely voice one’s views, opinions, concerns, and so on.
I don’t think anybody will put this on a plaque or anything, but there’s a quick and short version.
I do not know what the global idea of diversity is. When I think of diversity I think of diversity of thought, race, religion, culture. Is that the same? Or different?
Because the definition of Conservative at the moment is broad, fuzzy, shifting, and different for many people, it might help if families seeking “Conservative” universities could be a little more specific about what they each seek.
For example, one family might seek a very religious campus that shuns alcohol and recreational drugs to the point of severely punishing students who partake. Another family might be seeking a campus where the majority of students/professors vote for one political party over another. A third family might seek a university in an area/city that fits certain overarching Conservative criteria. Or maybe the families want a university that avoids some guest speakers and hosts other guest speakers. A family might want to avoid any university where the administration has made a commitment to diversity/inclusion in any form or certain forms.
Not all of those characteristics will be present at all schools designated as Conservative. Just as with any other family/student seeking advice, it is helpful to those who wish to help if those making this request could be a little more specific in what they each seek.
That said, Hillsdale College is often mentioned a Conservative college. And Washington & Lee is an elite university often described as a welcoming safe space for Conservatives. Out west, Pepperdine, BYU, and Azusa Pacific might be fitting for some families seeking various forms of Conservatism.
Since your preference is a campus where students feel free to express their views, it sounds like a campus where students aren’t passionate about politics one way or the other is where this is most likely to occur. Wherever students are passionate in either direction, there will be debates and those who are in the minority on either side will feel overwhelmed and unacceptable. I don’t see how that can be avoided - especially with adolescents. A school can have all the free speech they want, but that isn’t going to allow anyone to feel that their views are accepted when they’re outnumbered.
I posted a Princeton Review list of schools above where students identify their campus as “conservative”. But I doubt that these are free speech havens either. Princeton Review has another list which they call “Election? What Election?” These would seem to be schools where the political temperature is low, so students should be able to express views on either side of an issue without being shouted down. Here are the results of that survey:
What In find interesting about this list is that it seems to be made up of a number of schools where there are a high number of engineering students, others with a lot of pre-professional students, and some with fairly homogeneous student bodies.
What I find most frustrating about political debate these days is that too many people simply aren’t interested in solving problems. They come in with a pre-set POV and will only accept an outcome that agrees with their predetermined position.
We wouldn’t accept that approach anywhere else in life. When we want to fix something, we usually discuss it in terms of what works, and we don’t pick solutions passed on a preconceived bias. I think that’s why so many students at engineering colleges are turned off by political discussions. They spend all of their time otherwise operating from provable facts and evaluating solutions based on whether or not they work.
Hence, my quotes around “teacher”. I realize he is not a professor or paid employee. But, hiring Hunter Biden in any capacity to speak to young adults is, at best, foolish. It also a “clue” for me to understand the administration.
Herein lies the problem.
This is what is wrong with our country right now. I assume you are an educated adult and you do not believe that anyone would feel their views are accepted when they are outnumbered. Everyone should feel their views are accepted. Not agreed on, but accepted. I live in a conservative area. I am in a mostly conservative book club. Yet, when someone who is more liberal expresses their views, not only are we accepting of their views, we all discuss in a kind and respectful way. This is what is missing from most colleges and what I am trying to avoid.
I don’t find people on either side of the political divide accepting different points of view. In fact, far too often conversations seem to degenerate into attempts to convert anyone who disagrees, to change their mind, to prove who’s right, to basically win the argument. It’s particularly frustrating because far too often people do this even when their position is either unsupported by the facts or is held without any reference to a factual basis. As a result, I typically try to avoid these kinds of conversation or change the subject when they get started.
Basically I’m saying that people today are intolerant. I’m happy for you that you are able to have discussions in a kind and respectful way, but I don’t find that colleges are the only places where this is lacking.
I have to say that I have no idea what the terms “liberal” and “conservative” mean. I see liberals who are supposed to prioritize respecting differences but actually are personally intolerant. And I see those who claim to be conservative but who are anything but conservative in how they manage their lives and finances, how they raise their children, or how they accept responsibility as stewards of what they’ve inherited and will pass on to others. If people on either side don’t live what they preach, then what they preach doesn’t mean anything.
U Chicago is an excellent school that values diversity of thought and opinion.
Hamilton’s Great Names Series seems to have intentionally invited speakers from a wide political spectrum. Note, for example, the diverse perspectives represented by the several former heads of state who have appeared:
A post was split to a new thread: Conservative colleges
I am closing this thread for several reasons.
The original poster has not been on CC since October 2019.
To address someone who has posted here, when CC switched to the new platform, long-closed threads were automatically “opened.” Currently, the people behind the scenes are literally closing dormant threads from users who may not have been active on CC in a decade.
The tone was getting very unpleasant and several posts have been edited.
Any user is free to start a new thread on this topic if they like, in which users might be able to give more relevant information bout the topic in question. In addition, if someone would like to bookmark the thread for future reference, they are free to do so.