<p>as the question is... :)</p>
<p>Generally this means several things. It implies how the personality of the school is- both politically and otherwise, and how the rules apply.</p>
<p>I’ll use some <em>extreme</em> examples here and say:</p>
<p>Brown is a liberal school. There are no core requirements, and they have a large amount of liberal students [democrats, and other liberal parties- ie green and progressives], a large acceptance of gay students, no particular religious affiliation, common pot use, etc.</p>
<p>Liberty is a conservative fundamentalist baptist school. There is a STRICT honor code; and offenses such as having opposite sex students in your dorm room, watching ‘bad’ movies or music and so on can earn you demerits and a fee as punishment. They do not allow a democrat student group on campus to be recognized, and so on. </p>
<p>This is extreme however, in most cases you’ll just find that conservatism is linked to conservative ideas- social conservative- not gay friendly, and may quash or ignore the debate on choice or fiscally- like Uchi’s economic school and so on. And liberal schools generally tend to harbor more social rights groups on campus, teach a lot of ethnic studies/gender studies classes that may be a requirement in the Core. </p>
<p>Most schools are some shade in between, or more liberally bent. There is a book called choosing the Right college that rates colleges based on conservative ideals, if you’re interested to see things from that side of the aisle. (I picked it up on accident myself, but was fascinated to find out that the above is what makes a liberal school ‘bad’)</p>
<p>thanks for the reply, yurtle.</p>
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<p>could you briefly give some examples of this? i’m really curious about this too</p>
<p>Liberty doesn’t allow a Democrat student group? What about socially conservative Populists that are associated with the Democratic party?</p>
<p>I’d say that most professors and educated people for that matter tend to be more liberal and tolerant and whatnot and therefore most schools tend to be liberal. New College of Florida is pretty liberal, I believe…</p>
<p>Pensacola Christian College possibly has Liberty beat, though…</p>
<p>student: Most of the bashing of “liberal” schools ends up being traced back to one thing: the fear that, if allowed freedom, students will make poor choices. Those who hate liberalism in college tend to have a problem mostly with the social liberalism - the freer attitudes towards sex and drinking and, depending on the college, drug use - because they believe that if given the opportunity to indulge in irresponsible, “bad” behavior, college students will inevitably do so.</p>
<p>
Poor choices indeed. A lot of bashing of liberal schools occurs because liberals can be every bit as intolerant of alternate viewpoints as their conservative counterparts.</p>
<p>Example #1: Columbia students and even the president himself heckled Ahmadinejad, whom they had invited to campus. However abhorrent his views, it’s in decidedly poor taste to invite someone to give a lecture only to interrupt and ridicule him.
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/world/middleeast/25iran.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/world/middleeast/25iran.html</a></p>
<p>Example #2: UNC protesters burst into a speech being given by a former Congressman and forced police to shut the event down.
[Protest</a> stops Tancredo’s UNC speech - Immigration - News & Observer](<a href=“http://www.newsobserver.com/news/immigration/story/1486087.html]Protest”>http://www.newsobserver.com/news/immigration/story/1486087.html)</p>
<p>I’m pretty darned liberal myself…but you need to draw the line somewhere. Moderate campuses, with a good mix of both liberal and conservative viewpoints, have a great deal to offer (examples would include Chicago, William & Mary, Duke).</p>
<p>Agreed (yes, I’m a liberal myself), but I’m prety sure example #1 would be tied to conservatives, not liberals. Conservatives abhor the idea that Iran is not a democracy, does not support the US, and holds nuclear weapons and a lot of other influence in the Islamic world due to other reasons (hub of Shi’a islan, still a large center of population and Islamic thought).</p>
<p>Liberals were the ones who wished to speak with Ahmadinejad and negotiate peace, ex. Barack Obama’s controversial campaign position during the 2008 primaries which was disputed by Hillary Clinton, who now will ironically be carrying out these policies. Conservatives would rather go to war with Iran, ex. Bush’s position on Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction”, which led to war.</p>
<p>You are correct on Ex. #2, and this is most likely the only way a liberal would ever try to restict speech. However, protesting is both peaceful and constitutional, making for a rational way to show your difference in opinion (now let’s hear how a conservative solves problems :- p)</p>
<p>Student01- </p>
<p>“This college guide is hands down better than any guide I’ve seen. If actually getting an education rooted in a core curriculum is important to you, or knowing whethter or not the dorms your son or daughter will be living in have co-ed showers is something you might like to be aware of, than this guide stands alone in how it reviews schools. If the above (and so much more like it) is “conservative” or “Christian”, than so be it. To me is just makes good sense.” This was one of the reviews [4 stars I believe] on Amazon. </p>
<p>Specifically, I noticed this book talked heavily about conservative teachers ‘teaching’ vs ‘indoctrination’, and the importance of western civilization appearing in Core classes. Even further, the book pointed out ‘easy’ classes that were fufilling core requirements-- like intro to women’s studies. A quoted example in the reviews is: “Of course, there are also a few courses like “Gay and Lesbian Studies” or “Race in Latin America”, but most of the offered courses are solid.” They focused a LOT on the diversity of classes; basically anything not about western civ and other ‘solid classes’ [IE not about minority groups] was seen as liberal and poor educational classes. </p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Choosing the Right College: 2008-2009: The Whole Truth about America’s Top Schools (9781933859231): John Zmirak, Walter E. Williams: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Choosing-Right-College-2008-2009-Americas/dp/1933859237/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248404511&sr=8-2]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Choosing-Right-College-2008-2009-Americas/dp/1933859237/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248404511&sr=8-2)</p>
<p>And I got my idea for the brown/liberty comparison from this book: </p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University (9780446178426): Kevin Roose: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Disciple-Semester-Americas-University/dp/044617842X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248405115&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Disciple-Semester-Americas-University/dp/044617842X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248405115&sr=8-1) </p>
<p>And a short video about it: [Amazon.com</a> : Entertainment : The Unlikely Disciple](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2YOGN89H7DGE1]Amazon.com”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2YOGN89H7DGE1) </p>
<p>Which I loved, personally. </p>
<p>ANOTHER EDIT: <a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052200793.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052200793.html</a></p>
<p>“Liberty University will no longer recognize its campus Democratic club because, officials say, the national party’s platform goes against the conservative Christian school’s moral principles.” Extreme example, but still an example. </p>
<p>Protest, and rudeness happens on both sides. However, as of late the extreme right wing has been getting increasingly violent- and thankfully, the above examples that IBclass06 gave are probably the WORST you’ll see from either side at colleges.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>I’d like to add that although I’m still in HS, most of my teachers have been very liberal (personally- I found this out on my own time.) and very open to insisting upon hearing both sides of the debate. This has lead to some students debating solid facts based on idealogies, but hey, everyone gets heard (including me), so who am I to complain too much? I’m a liberal myself, but it’s been a work in process of researching politics on my own and listening to the facts in class and blending the two. [Of course, I’m a political wonk. If that’s not what you enjoy talking about, or you don’t care to share, I’m sure most students have similar opinions. At the very least, your eyes can be opened to the range of ideas-- which is what a good teacher should do so you can see both sides.</p>
<p>The John Zmirak/David Horowitz crap on liberalism is so misconstrued and sensationalist that I can’t help but to laugh when anyone takes it seriously.</p>
<p>Horowitz, in particular, likes to co-op academic language and change the definition of accepted terms on the fly to suit his political agenda, without taking any care to actual practice or history. Many of his attacks can be boiled down to his lack of acceptance of Gender and Sexuality studies as a legitimate discipline, a decision he made on politics and not on the merit, or lack thereof, of the field’s scholarship.</p>
<p>If you want to learn about this stuff you should start with a lesson on the history of higher education in America so you don’t start reading fancy jargon and simply accept it from a few off-kilter political talking heads.</p>
<p>Btw, the left has its fair share of nonsense talkers who think they can change a class on engineering to a course on political activism and subverting authority and various things like that. It’s just that the right has been writing a lot more books about it and has been more effective in communicating a bat**** crazy agenda.</p>
<p>Anyone who denies the existence of homosexuality (in one of the world’s gayest cities) deserves to be heckled. Especially if they happen to be the leader of a country that is known to torment and tortuture homosexuals…</p>
<p>modestmelody reminded me–</p>
<p>I <em>did</em> say the examples were extreme. However, I have no other example of a conservative viewpoint on what makes a conservative or liberal school to offer up. And to be fair, the places they called conservative were indeed just that-- places like Brigham Young, and Uchi for its stronger conservative side. And the places they called liberal were indeed mostly that-- like Middlebury. The reasons they gave <em>why</em> the liberal schools were bad were indeed silly-- to my views. I know <em>tons</em> of people who would buy/have bought this book with their children in mind-- I come from a more conservative town with a large mormon/conservative christian population. And they would agree with this book totally. So while the man is a political talking head…he is still listened to. </p>
<p>The left does have these people of course. No side is without the extremists.</p>
<p>Being listened to and providing accurate information and well-thought out conclusions are two completely different things.</p>
<p>I know that these things are widely read and blinded agreed to, but this is due to the authors’ lack of integrity as demonstrated by the use of manipulative arguments based on information presented in a particular way to an audience that’s predisposed to believe what they’re saying who is unequipped with the knowledge or skills to debunk and dismantle the material.</p>
<p>It’s a rather poor idea to bring up these books to determine these things, if for no other reason than it’s hard to take someone seriously if they take those books seriously.</p>
<p>OHKID, your views are pretty naive.</p>
<p>“Conservatives abhor the idea that Iran isn’t a democracy”? Wait…what? I don’t think it’s just conservatives there.</p>
<p>And seriously, how can you negotiate peace with someone who consistently states that the Holocaust was a hoax?</p>
<p>It’s not a question of whether the man deserves to be heckled.
It’s not a question of whether you can talk sense into the man’s head.</p>
<p>The point is that he was invited to a serious academic conference intended to promote open, earnest, intellectual dialogue, and a university president and the students of the university made a mockery of both the conference and the ideals that these very people purport to embrace.</p>
<p>It’s outrageous and shameful.</p>
<p>I see it completely differently - I think the outrageous and shameful thing to do is to accept an invitation to a a research university that is dedicated to propogating truth based upon facts, and then to deny the existence of homosexuality (at least within Iran) in front of the people who have dedicated their careers to realizing the universitiy’s mission.</p>
<p>Homophobia should not be tolerated by any means, and I am glad that the Columbia community realized their obligation to make this quite voiciferiously known.</p>
<p>1) Technically he didn’t deny the existence of homosexuality in Iran. He specifically said that Iran didn’t “have homosexuals the way you have them in your country [the US].” This is certainly true – while homosexuality is undoubtedly present virtually everywhere, there are relatively few out people in Iran and certainly nothing along the lines of pride parades. (On a side note, the Iranian government considers it perfectly fine to be trans. They’re probably one of the only countries in the world where T is more accepted than LGB. Odd, eh?)</p>
<p>2) The president of Columbia insulted a guest speaker for 10 minutes before he even opened his mouth. That is not making a point, nor is it propagating the truth. It comes across as inviting a guest speaker solely for the sake of attacking him, which is extremely embarrassing for an institution of such standing.</p>
<p>Of course, I’m not picking on Columbia in particular. My own university attempted to do something similar when David Horowitz gave a lecture on campus, and the debacle of the Duke lacrosse case is yet another example. College is a time for learning and thoughtful consideration; we’re all too young to be entirely set in our views yet. ;)</p>
<p>I think the problem was that Columbia invited the guy in the first place. Since it wouldn’t be palatable for some of us (me included) to have such a guy speak at the university we attend without being disrespectful, we shouldn’t have invited him to a serious academic discussion in the first place since we knew it wasn’t going to happen. </p>
<p>As to which schools I’d consider liberal, I’d say any school that isn’t conservative. I know that strictly speaking that is a bad definition, since it is pretty easy to pick out the conservative schools it’s a relatively safe assumption (seeing as most people our age are liberal) that a school that isn’t conservative is at least somewhat left of center.</p>
<p>IBClass,</p>
<p>The translation I have heard is “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like you do in your country. It is not a problem there.” If this isn’t a blatant refusal to accept the presence of homosexuals within Iran, I don’t know what is. Of course, translations could differ - I will probably never know EXACTLY what he tried to say. But even if we were to go with the translation you provided, there is still a problem: there are still homosexuals, but yes, the BEHAVIOR of the homosexuals differs between Iran and the U.S. </p>
<p>Yes, the Iranian government not only encourages transexuality for gay men, it requires by law that all openly gay men undergo surgery to “become” women. This plays into a larger issue, which is the faulted but intricate association of femininity with homosexuality. </p>
<p>I would have to agree though, that heckling a guest speaker before he even speaks is a bit rude.</p>
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</p>
<p>And you do this with heckling? Are you serious?</p>
<p>Ahmadinejad is a well-known homophobe, so if the university didn’t want to hear his views, they shouldn’t have invited him. If you’re going to invite anyone over, you need to respect them. Besides, heckling won’t change anything, and it only makes you look stupid.</p>
<p>This is simply a difference of opinion. I, personally, would have been horrified had the audience NOT reacted as they did to some of his responses.</p>