Greetings! While anyone is welcome to chime in of course, I am looking for anyone willing to share vibes or experiences on these 4 college campuses intellectual cultures as experienced in their families, regarding intellectual culture, specifically in the Colleges of Arts & Letters, Arts and Sciences, particularly the prelaw POLISCI, HISTORY, PHILOSHOPHY sectors would be most helpful, but we love all input! How have the experiences been if your student held traditionally conservative beliefs? We have heard experiences of professors who lower grades of well researched and articulated issues, on the grounds that they personally feel so opposite of the ideas so they levy a C for A work. I haven’t proven this, please read that twice! We have heard from other parents so we are casting a net to others. Has anyone encountered this or is it hype? I am seeking if this has really happened to anyone, and moderators be aware - I do not suggest some isolated instances will form a peer reviewed clinical study, just looking for anecdotal so here I am bc that is what CC is known for other than collecting our data! Is this lack of free speech being sensationalized by the media? I am seeking to see if any conservative students have experienced students being shamed or attacked verbally in class (vs polite disagreement) for disagreeing with a left leaning or far left point of view. Please don’t answer with the W word. Please no need to share lists of conservative colleges. They just may lack the political pluralism we are seeking too! And before everyone goes crazy yes golly gee willikers my student asked me to research this as she is in high school and sitting in class, still learning until May. We have left off some elite university places she is accepted bc we have our answers there - we have read professors twitter feeds to assess in our own preferred way, the primary source. She is interested in the opinions of the frequent but not exclusive tuition bill payers and what they/them have found interfacing with stories their kids report back at the schools she is considering. Please be polite and respectful, just looking for experiences in classrooms re: campus culture. Note we assign no value to either liberalism or conservatism. This is an EXPERIENCE/CULTURE ON CAMPUS question, not an assessment of politics and their worth. The experience of shutting down a conservative speaker on campus like Ben Shapiro, or a left one like VPKamala Harris because of a student protest would be valuable, for example. Assessments of Shapiro/VPHarris him/herself and your opinion of his/her politics would be off topic and better suited to the Politics forum. Hope I have been clear. Thanks in advance for anyone who can help paint a picture, albeit anecdotal.
Do you have a kid who was accepted to all of these colleges? If so, I would think it prudent for the student to get this information.
It would be respectful to capitalize the vice-president’s name, regardless of politics. Perhaps this post should be in the Politics forum.
Free speech means you are free to speak your opinion, not that you are free to speak your opinion without criticism and critique. So I am a bit confused as your title indicates the former, but your post indicates the latter.
done! Thanks for catching my typos I am legally blind! Again read the post not of a political nature but an experiential one. If not of interest please scroll on!
Professors at the schools you mention also have Twitter feeds. Since that’s your preferred source, have you started there?
FWIW, I have a nephew at Villanova who reports an even-handed response to classroom discussions across the political spectrum. I’m unsure of his major, but it’s in social sciences.
Yes we have, and often a lack of feed can also indicate excellent objectivity in keeping personal opinions outside of one’s role. I take pride as a teacher and counselor that I run debates and students have no idea of my personal politics. Our kids are looking for educators in that tradition in the grading and fostering of lively discussions. Thanks for sharing the anecdotal info we are seeking it is very appreciated. One follow up is if he has experienced or heard of any peers experiencing grading downgrades that arenot content and qualitative, but positional.
As I mentioned to the OP in their previous thread, I have a close friend who is a prof at Villanova. I would agree with this statement based on what I know of it. But I also know that my friend - and most of his colleagues - will not tolerate inflammatory language and broad generalizations verging on accusations, and unsupported arguments. They will not tolerate racism, homophobia/transphobia, and misogyny under the guise of “pluralism” and “freedom of speech.” Obviously, I know nothing about the student in question, but I raised these concerns in the previous thread based on the language/statements made my the OP, who is very concerned about “woke agendas.” So it is a bit of a caution that, if the student has these same concerns, perhaps a more conservative environment would provide a better educational experience. Or perhaps they could open their minds, embrace the pluralism they claim to believe in, and learn other points of view without dismissing them as “wokeism.”
Thanks for responding and offering an opportunity to clarify. For me, free speech means societally, you are free to speak your opinion and not fear the government. To extrapolate that to a collegiate experience, I would say, (and your assessment may differ), free speech means to express your opinion, and others express their positions and opinions, which may include critiques and the like. The question refers to HOW conservative students are disagreed with at these institutions, not IF. Intellectually, not personally, and respectfully, not with hostility - would be ideal. Yours may be different. I hope that clarifies your confusion and if you have an anecdote I will appreciate it!
Anecdotally, Villanova and Notre Dame have a commitment to social justice and community service and catholicism in the true sense, which is a diverse student body. I’m sure they would encourage a spectrum of thought and speech and also apply these liberal values to the discourse.
Yes have definitely seen that on their marketing materials. But looking for anecdotes from actual experiences. Thanks!
I do! However, I addressed why i placed this on the parent forum in my post and am trying to keep the post on topic. The student is getting the information, it is a shared responsibility in our home, as she will attend and we will jointly pay the bill. Gee kinda personal though.
Respectfully, the reference to homophobia and racism seemed to me to be presented in anecdotal information about a Villanova professor’s response to such. This is what you requested, no? Anecdotes?
I don’t think she called her friend those things at all. The very reference itself suggested that any conservative student would be expressing opinions that are subject to critique on the basis that they are inherently racist or phobic in some manner. She was asked to pursue conversations assigning value to political positions on the political forum. I also cover this in my OP.
No, it was not inferring that. It was saying those professors place LIMITS to “free” speech. Namely, students can’t say hateful things under the guise of “free” speech. There will (and should ) be consequences for that.
We have a very conservative family member who graduated from ND last year. They loved everything about their experience and felt well supported there.
I am not saying this at all. In fact, your leap from my statement to your conclusion is an interesting one.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience, we appreciate that so much!
Again, an interesting leap from what I said to what you concluded about it. I think this kind of leap may be at the heart of some of the negative experiences you believe conservative students have faced in “liberal” classrooms. It seems to come from a place of defensiveness - I’ll leave to you to decide whether that kind of defensiveness is justified or not.