Hmm, isn’t soka kinda cultish?
Curious to see where Antioch is going now.
Sherwood Anderson’s book of interrelated short stories, Winesburg, Ohio, is about a quintessential small town in Ohio, though. And the recent movie Indignation, based on the Phillip Roth novel, takes place at Winesburg College. I think that’s fictional.
I’m a native Ohioan, although have long lived elsewhere, and had a great time exploring “hippie” colleges there when I was looking in the late 1970s. Antioch was one, along with Hiram College. I ended up at a small college known for its hippie vibe within a large Ohio state university, known to be anything but hippy-ish.
Thanks for posting your adventures, @hyppymom. Very entertaining!
Have you done the PNW trip yet? If not, definitely check out U. of Puget Sound. Very groovy vibe (backpacking and canoe trips for orientation, an option to list “Preferred pronouns” on your name tag). The dominant feeling I had when we first visited was that it felt like walking around a food co-op. It’s not all hippies, by any means, but they’re a significant demographic. But vibe aside, the main reason it should be on your list is that their music school is well above average for a LAC – it’s one of their flagship departments. But it’s not a conservatory and is very accessible to non-majors. My instrumentalist son is a freshman there now, and has been very impressed by the quality of the orchestra so far (he said they sounded better after the second rehearsal than his youth orchestra did after a term’s worth of practicing), and I think their theater is pretty strong, too. I know they stage operas quite regularly, for instance. Also of potential relevance, in addition to giving out a lot more merit aid than any of the schools on your northeast tour, they also offer music and theater scholarships, even to non-majors. The combination of an academic merit scholarship and a music scholarship made it one of our most affordable options, though if you’re in the market for a fair bit of need-based aid, the math may work out differently for you.
Anyway, my outdoorsy, hippie-inclined performing artist son is loving it. Thus far, it’s been everything he hoped it would be.
D’oh! I see now that you DID do the PNW tour and you DIDN’T visit UPS. Alas.
Hippie Colleges of Ohio Tour 2016 (Day 5) – So we were not murdered in our beds at the Ohio Overlook Hotel. Today, we drove deeper into rural Central Ohio. No Trump signs in sight, but lots and lots of buggies and even a mule team. And horrible roads. Portions unpaved. The Amish clearly don’t complain enough. We finally arrived in the tiny, cute and remote town of Granville, home of Denison University. Denison is probably more preppy than hippie, but it was by far the friendliest campus we’ve visited anywhere, and I think a hippie could be happy there. They do a superb job of selling the school, starting with excellent labeling of the directions to the admissions office. Boo and I both walked away very impressed. Then back on the crappy roads to the Overlook – this time in a rainstorm. No time for more. Someone is at the door. He says his name is Johnny.
Hippie Colleges of Ohio Tour 2016 (Final Day) – I’m pleased to say that we survived our last night at the Overlook. This morning we partially retraced our route along the unpaved Amish roads to Kenyon College. Forget what I said yesterday about Granville being tiny and remote. Granville looks like Times Square next to Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon. We started the morning with a tour of the college where they separated the kids into one group and the parents into another. Our tour was pretty standard, but I kept imagining what was going on on the kids’ tour. “Is it hard to get a fake ID?” “Are there orgies?” “Can I major in hip hop?” At the end of the tour, we reunited for the world’s worst information session. Boring and hard to hear. Made all the more intolerable when we were joined half way through by a mother and her sullen, sapphire-haired daughter. The mother proceeded to ask approximately 40 questions very specific to her daughter (including the inevitable bathroom gender question ) while the mortified daughter alternately rolled her eyes and hid her face in her hands. Boo then had an interview with a senior who was an admissions office “fellow” where Boo either assured her admission or completely killed her chances. The interviewer asked Boo what her spirit animal would be. Hilariously, Boo responded by saying that that her spirit animal was a sloth. Best. Answer. Ever.
I'm guessing no one has ever responded that way in any interview anywhere before. (She went on to explain that she's laid-back and deliberate but still.). It totally cracked me up. At least she'll be memorable. And so ends this tour. Very early tomorrow we fly back home. But stay tuned, the Hippie Colleges of the Northwest Tour 2016 is coming soon.
Anyway, It’s been great fun interacting with all of you. Good luck on your college searches. I’ll be watching. Hyppymom
I just need to say that I love this thread and this writer is extremely entertaining.
@rayrick I couldn’t agree more about UPS. Food co-op is a pretty great description. When we drove up to tour, sadly the first monday after move out (not realizing they were out of school already on our in-service day) my son commented (after remarking that THIS is what a college should look like) he suspected everyone there wears Patagonia. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, or if it was a good or a bad thing. He falls into the hipster food co-op tree hugging liberal compost fanatic socially aware but not-quite-a-hippy camp (far far too fashion conscious…but if it comes from goodwill he can reconcile it lol) . Sure enough, the official tour guide logo wear was…
Patagonia.
Apparently it was neither a good or a bad thing, just a thing. But it was funny. The fact that they offer scholarships to non majors is a huge plus, he will be going for both a music and a theater tech one (if we hope to make it an affordable option). S would prefer to go OOS and somewhere stronger in his program area but UPS is the benchmark the others will have to live up to and I won’t at all be surprised that if the $$ works, if he ends up there.
Btw: Boo is reportedly applying to Puget Sound even though they didn’t visit there.
@HellaWong, this news brings me joy 
I think the name @HellaWong brings me great joy too.
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@rayrick @researchperson – @HellaWong specializes in the spreading of joy. 
Adding one more thump to my drumbeat for UPS…Since the OP noted that the friendly atmosphere at Denison was a big plus, I wanted to share that the friendly atmosphere at UPS was a huge draw for my son. I remember him enthusing on the morning I picked him up from his overnight visit, “Everyone is so friendly!” Later, when he did an overnight at another one of his other top contenders, the students seeming less “open” than the kids at UPS was a significant negative.
Our feelings were further confirmed by a very warm and welcoming orientation experience, including a couple of nice days of parents’ events.
Okay, all done now. puts drum back in corner
From what I’ve seen, Boo would fit in well at Puget Sound. My kid (who is not really a hippy but gravitates toward hippies some of the time) is happy there so far. Puget Sound attracts a lot of hippies. They don’t dominate the place but they’re prominent (as are the varsity athletes, serious musicians, outdoors people, future entrepreneurs, and others).
Boo also might like Beloit and Lawrence. Beloit definitely has a long history of attracting hippies. There are a fair number of them at Lawrence too, but they aren’t as prominent at Lawrence as at Beloit or Oberlin.
How about Marlboro in Vermont?
Or, at the other end of the size spectrum, how about the Universities of Michigan (especially the Residential College), Wisconsin, and Texas?
It’s funny to think that hippies are still making their mark on campuses. The original hippies (the “real” ones?) are in their sixties and seventies.
There has to be a CC Hall of Fame for this.
“They do a superb job of selling the school, starting with excellent labeling of the directions to the admissions office.”
AMEN! How I appreciate schools that do this…