<p>i just read this off an oberlin email:
Oberlin</a> College
and it made me sort of sad, since i picture oberlin as one of the more unconventional schools, kind of like hampshire but taking academics more seriously. i guess i'll find out more when i visit in april, but i was wondering: is what they're saying true, that it's not as liberal as its reputation? has oberlin changed, or does the college administration say that to make parents feel better and/or to get more diversity in its applicants? i'd just love some student input on how the atmosphere of oberlin actually is and how i (jain socialist hippie) would fit in there.
thanks for your input!! :)</p>
<p>just a parents’ view . . </p>
<p>it IS unconventional in large part because it is not (was it ever?) a strictly liberal place</p>
<p>and I don’t mean that’s it’s now more conservative</p>
<p>it has too much of a libertarian streak for that</p>
<p>there are schools that are centered around like minded people, where the vibe on campus is that there is a dominant culture that most students fit into . . think BYU (mormon) or Hampshire (hippie?) or Duke (frats) or Villanova (more conservative business-oriented ) . . . in other words, at some schools it’s best if you fit in with the dominant culture </p>
<p>Oberlin is I think too libertarian for that . . . it’s less important than at most schools that you fit into a “type” to feel comfortable there . . . students seem to be respected there not because of particular politics but because they are “liberal” in the classical 19th century sense: open to new ideas; seeking to improve the world , more respectful of individual rights and outlook</p>
<p>Yes, you’ll find unreconstructed hippies and anecdotes of intolerance against more traditional/conservative students . . . but my kid - who is “out there” on the radical edge on campus - reports that most everybody gets along and is respectful of a wide range of diverse views</p>
<p>the fact that’s it’s not a hippie commune is, I think a good thing :-)</p>
<p>P.S. as a veteran of the administration’s move to “normalize” UC Santa Cruz, I’d also suggest that it’s hard for administrators to change the essence of a school</p>
<p>ok, thanks for your response!! it’s not that i want a place where everyone has the same views (i’d actually really love to have more conservatives to talk to), i just want to be somewhere where it’s at least relatively easy to find a number of like-minded people, and it sounds like oberlin is good for that :)</p>
<p>I’m one of the people that wrote that e-mail, and I suggested including the Woodstock question. I wrote it because there are a surprising amount of parents who come in convinced that Oberlin is filled with constant drug-induced orgies in the middle of campus. Clearly, that’s not the case. Oberlin is still plenty progressive, with pretty constant discussion of current issues, and one could safely say that the campus on average leans further left than the rest of America.</p>
<p>But you’ll see all that on your upcoming visit.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL!! Where do these crazy ideas come from? I don’t think the FBI will ever be a major recruiter on campus, smwhtslghtlydzed, but you will come across a conservative or two. But don’t worry, if you lean left you’ll have plenty of company–students and faculty. Oberlin is not in any danger of turning into Washington & Lee. :)</p>