Arch3r25

Liberal as in socially unrestricted and not conservative Freedom of expression --> that kind of thing.

Or maybe I'm defining the word too liberally :P

And fine if you want a more typical reason: Noam Chomsky

TaiTai

I think you are defining a lot of words rather liberally. That's why it is hard to understand your post. However, the typical reason you mention puts it all in perspective.

thebigcheese121

Are Austin College and Southwestern University in TX liberal? How much so?

rocket6louise

^^NO!
they are in TEXAS..haha
Seriously, Southwestern struck me as slightly conservative..but i am very liberal so i could be biased

JustAMomOf4

1. Name of College: Warren Wilson College

2. Reason for calling it Liberal:

This school is the pentultimate liberal school. It is practically a commune (except you do have to pay tuition). They use student "work crews" for most everything on campus and every student is required to work. If you clog a toilet - a student will most likely fix it.
The school is extremely envionmentally concious and they have their own organic garden and farm that produces some food for the dining hall.
Politically very liberal. Not sure if a Republican has ever stepped on campus. Has an "everything goes" hippie culture. Some students feel clothng should be optional.
Nakedness in the yearbook is not unheard of.
Volunteerism is expected. The students support a lot of social causes - local food bank, habitat for humanity, etc.
There is a service requirement for graduation.

3. Parent of graduate.

swattransfer

debrockman:
are you crazy? swarthmore was voted the best value college in the united states last year by forbes magazine. top lac's are by no means "overpriced and overblown" just because you don't like their political climate. any school with an acceptance rate <20%, while both its average class size and its total number of applications is steadily increasing, is not struggling to fill its spaces. period.

swarthmore, by the way, is extremely liberal. the whole campus is constantly talking about "diversity" and everybody loves obama, basically. i could write a million pages on why this school is outrageously liberal but just don't have time. all you need to do is browse the school website and see how all of the highlighted student and faculty achievements are of the "save-the-world" variety (building toilets and schools in bolivia, starting a children's initiative in the nearby ghetto, starting a fund for at-risk-queer youths in philly, raising money for malaria-preventing nets for uganda, amongst various hokey "multicultural-artistic explorations", etcetera etcetera). our biggest party of the year evolved from the annual week-long symposium about LQBTQ issues (and this is a very big deal on campus). etc., etc. swarthmore should be exempt from no list of liberal schools. it's practically a caricature of a "progressive" institution. i was the token liberal in grade and high school and swarthmore has not just made me feel conservative but actually made me more conservative (it is insufferable at times; the PC police are always on patrol).

the education i'm getting is fabulous, though. i don't regret going here for one second. okay, maybe a second here and there. but overall i'm very satisfied.

openedskittles

UT Austin is in Texas and it's very liberal.

odyssey212

@thebigcheese121

I'm a Texan (and left leaning) and I feel that MOST of the TX school are more conservative. I visited Southwestern this summer and was in shock. I was the only non white person on campus that day (granted, it was in the summer...and there was like 13 of us) besides the kids in the gym in the gym, but they werent students just kids from the community.
IMO UT is definitely much more liberal, especially since its in the Austin. But as a flagship university, its bound to attract large numbers of smart conservative kids too. So I'd say its bound to be pretty tolerant.

thebigcheese121

I was not talking about UT-Austin. I was talking about Austin College in Sherman, TX.

Is Austin College liberal or conservative? Is the campus diverse?

Mezzo'sMama

I have no idea what the purpose of this thread is considering that "liberal" has not been defined and it just seems to be stirring up trouble. So, I'll take the definition to be a college where students have to think for themselves and help decide everything from majors, to courses and even to how the campus is run. That would have to be:
Marlboro in VT- I speak as a parent of a son who was there quite a while ago.
Majors may be self determined and courses could be designed by students or faculty majors to fit within the needed parameters. The place is run by Town Meeting, a concept unique to New England.Everyone-student, faculty or administration member has one, equal vote and everyone is heard and respected. Dorms were co-ed when it really raised eyebrows and everything involved with them, from hours, noise levels to who cleans what is decided by the kids who live in that particular unit. Students are expected to spend their final year involved in some sort of capstone project-many are off campus and abroad during this time- and, as a matter of fact, the observatory on campus was built by an industrious senior! Faculty families live in houses scattered around the campus- an old farm and sheep meadow- and are involved in the everyday events on campus. It's not unusual to see a baby in a Moses Basket accompanying Mom or Dad to work in the Administration Building and a student with some time to spare may take said infant out to nap on a blanket in the afternoon sunshine!
Most would call it extremely liberal, but I always think of it as a school without boundaries where one can determine their own place in the universe and what their contribution to the world will be- they determine their own future for they are responsible for it.
While not everyone thinks alike, all are respected and given a chance to be heard. Living together as they do, students quickly learn to prioritize tasks and determine whether the amount of energy expended on petty squabbling is truly worth hurting another person.
If nothing else, one learns civility and the manners which enable entry into society anywhere in the world, and one learns how interconnected world communities are and work for the betterment of all.
Would that the rest of us were that tolerant...

MissPickwickian

Whether or not conservatives are discriminated against is a stupid question to debate, because it really depends on what area of the country one is talking about. I believe that conservatives face a harsh social scene in the northern states, but I will never forget this conversation:

Middle school classmate: "Hey, R----, do you like George Bush?"

Me: "No."

Middle school classmate: "People like you oughta be taken out and shot."


Sometimes I wonder if ANYONE on CC lives or has ever lived in Tennessee.

Maryville College is the most "liberal" school in Tennessee, mostly by default. Maryville, with its middle-class feel and Presbyterian affiliation, has escaped both the redneck influences of the University of Tennessee and the preppy/blue blazer/Old South influences of Vanderbilt, Rhodes, and Sewanee. Alumni say that Maryville is a great place for free speech on both sides.

The most liberal private schools in the entire south are Hendrix College and Guilford College. Guilford has a social conscience ten miles deep because of its Quaker affiliation, while Hendrix attracts freethinkers and dirty hippies from all over with its commitment to independent study and multiculturalism.

The most liberal public schools in the south are UNC Asheville and New College of Florida, for reasons already noted.

dntw8up

New College of Florida, for many, many reasons, including those reasons that led Glenn Beck, in his book "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems," to name New College number one among coeducational "Institutions of Leftist Learning."

mini

Since he never went to college, I think he is in a very good position to know. But maybe we should ask Sean Hannity, who dropped outta two of them (NYU and Adelphi), or Rush Limbaugh, who couldn't pass a single course at Missouri State.

bandgeek05

Yesterday the junior AVID class took a trip to York College of PA. They did the typical tour things, spoke with and AdCom and ate a meal. I was surprised to find that many of them came back with a teacher bearing the mantra "Gay? Fine by me." The notion of selling these T-shirts to high school students you know nothing about screamed liberalism to me. A risky move in my opinion

mommusic

bandgeek05--I don't get it. If the kids want to buy the shirts, what's the problem? Nobody made them buy/wear them.

My son has one, and I try to make sure he doesn't wear it when visiting the conservative grandpa, but he does have the right to support his gay friends and express his opinion.