Here is a North East WASP’s guide to liberal college culture (NESCAC & Ivy)
Tufts-
Founded by Universalists (who were probably the most liberal branch of the Protestant faith).
Harvard-
Founded by Puritan/Calvinist/Congregationalists, but taken over by the more liberal Unitarians. Yale was then spawned to preserve the more conservative theology. This is why the Harvard/Yale rivalry is best understood as a religious war.
Unitarians were more from the aristocratic class and Universalists were more from the working class. Over time, the Unitarians became more liberal and the Universalists began to run out of money, so the two churches merged in the 60’s and the Universalist seminary at Tufts was closed. After the merger of churches, rumors were circulating that Harvard Business School was planning a hostile takeover of Tufts. The takeover rumors ended (and the endowment started to grow) when Tufts agreed to appoint a Harvard nutritionist as President in the late 70’s.
Bates-
Founded by Free Will Baptists who were one of the more liberal theologies
Brown-
Founded primarily by New England Baptists with a trace of Free Will in the lineage.
Rodger Williams was banished from the Mass Bay Colony by the Puritans for his liberal beliefs, sought refuge with the Separatists in Plymouth, then settled in Rhode Island. Rhode Island was also friendly to the Quakers who were banished from the Mass Bay Colony by the Puritans. If you are getting the idea that the Puritans were not the most friendly and inclusive group, then that would probably be correct. The original board of Brown consisted of mostly Baptists, a few Quakers, but also a few Congregationalists and members of the Church Of England that were more conservative.
Wesleyan-
Founded by Methodists who were one of the more liberal theologies.
Methodists tend to be wealthier than Baptists but less wealthy than the Unitarians who were wealthy enough help support the Universalists. 