Belmont University in Nashville, TN blew us away! Approx. 7,000 undergrad, Christian school surrounded by 2 beautiful, trendy city neighborhoods. 15 min uber ride to downtown. Wow. I asked lots of questions to tour guide and a dean because I wanted to know if my not-so-spiritual son could find his people. We left thinking definitely. The campus reminds me of the private gardens of a huge estate. I never saw anything like it.
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I personally think all four of those would be good choices.
That said, again at pretty much any secular or all-but-secular US college, I think there are going to be some vocal people who will probably strike you as excessively “far-left/woke”. In that sense, you will likely have to tolerate some exposure to such students.
But at those particular colleges, and others people are mentioning, I don’t think you will find it difficult to meet not just some people who have similar views to yours, but also people who do not have similar views, but are also interested in civil discussions.
And so at such colleges, I don’t think many people end up afraid to have such discussions. But your community will likely not be entirely free of people doing and saying stuff you are personally against yourself–and that is just how a complex modern society tends to work.
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I think there are tons of schools out there that are just not super political. And then there are social bubble schools (both on the left and the right). You’ll probably not be super happy at a place like Macalester, but a place like Hillsdale doesn’t sound like the right fit either (too far in the opposite direction). If you like Sewanee, check out Rhodes, W&L, Wake, Richmond, Davidson, Furman, F&M, Hobart & William Smith, Union, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Colgate, College of Wooster, Kenyon, Denison, St. Olaf. (off the top of my head.)
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I am not a campus expert, but I am also looking for conservative friendly. It is a little easier for us since we are looking at public engineering programs.
Add University of Tulsa to all the schools mentioned above. All SEC public schools, SMU, TCU, Rhodes are schools that I would consider. Big 10 schools are mostly left leaning with students from Chicago and the northeast, but maybe Purdue and IU are more moderate.
I saw WashU on the list. I am from STL originally, and that school is very liberal, and a favorite of coastal students who didn’t get into Ivies.
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But herein lies the problem.
IU and Bloomington are both left leaning - but OP is not asking to avoid left leaning schools.
What they asked - if they truly mean it - is:
*Conservative-friendly / welcoming to all political viewpoints and somewhat balanced (as much as a college campus can be)
And that’s 95%+ of campuses in America
Yes, U Tulsa will be conservative leaning - if that’s what OP really wants. In fact, they get simply get the google list of most conservative schools.
But OP didn’t ask for that.
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Yes, most colleges except Hillsdale are fairly liberal. I just want to provide some hints.
For the Big 10 footprint, the state of Indiana is fairly unique. Remember that 50-75% of the students come from inside the state. Purdue is Engineering/Ag focused and IU has a strong business school. Those two schools would be the most conservative friendly of the Big 10 schools.
Any school that is dominated by Engineering, Ag and Business will be more likely to be conservative friendly. I didn’t mention the Big 12 schools, but they also fall into these categories, but not so great on the architecture for the schools I have been to or seen pictures of.
Also, a school with all three ROTC programs thriving is more likely to be a more conservative friendly school.
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When the OP gave the request, I actually thought of Hillsdale first - because when one asks the question the way they did, they typically mean conservative leaning or dominated.
But truth be told, if OP is true to the intent of their question, they’ve created a situation in their mind that doesn’t (or rarely) exists.
Just want to emphasize the point that others have made: at almost any school, you’re going to encounter kids from all over the political spectrum. Mostly it isn’t an issue.
I would also challenge you, OP, to really have your kid think through what opinions they’re hoping to express that they think might get them doxxed/canceled? I’ve never heard, for example, of someone being ostracized for championing trickle-down economics (though they may face vigorous disagreement). If the student has things in mind that they’d like to say that other people would find inflammatory or hurtful, then it’s worth interrogating that (and to be clear, that’s true whether a kid is conservative, liberal, or anywhere in between). One thing kids should be learning in college is how to read a room, how to debate respectfully, and how to tell when certain thoughts need not be spoken.
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Great input, tsnba44. I have seen you on many threads.
I also want OP to not feel alone. CC threads tend to lean left politically, so just stating the words conservative or red might generate negative responses. I get it that many high achievers are from the Northeast, Chicago or California and those students are looking to attend the Ivies or top LACs, and a large majority (parents and children) from those geographies lean left.
There are many reasons why publics like Purdue, IU, Clemson, Auburn, S Carolina, UTK, SMU, and TCU are booming right now, and political leanings might be a contributing factor.
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Nephew was at Mizzou during the protests in mid 2010s (2015-16?), and it certainly impacted his day to day life. All the STEM kids just had to put their heads down, and avoid the protesters.
Many of us want to make sure our kids attend schools where the governors can discipline the college presidents, if protests or a pandemic happen again.
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The governors discipling doesn’t mean the activities don’t or won’t take place.
Mizzou had racial issues - it’s inexcusable.
Ole Miss too - and other places.
No one hast that right no matter how they lean.
And people protested.
I was at UNC and a student group gave my daughter a condom outside the student center. I was with her. But UNC isn’t devoid of conservatives.
Because a school has protests doesn’t mean they are not open to other viewpoints.
But cases like Missouri and even the thuggery of last year, are not the norm and don’t intend (on a campus level) to stifle what one believes.
And people certainly aren’t being doxxed - except those arrested in protests last year - and now companies won’t hire them.
And no conservative will have issue with that.
There’s a gazillion colleges out there - and the amount of kids that would not allow freedom of thought - is likely infinitesimal amongst the masses.
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U. of Dallas definitely fails the architecture filter, but it might be another school to investigate.
Small clarification: As those that have just received tuition bills can attest, TCU and SMU are not publics.
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Another reminder to keep things focused on the original question and not politics.
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We are a conservative family and found that most of the colleges we toured have a mix of students with different views and backgrounds.
Surprisingly, Sewanee was the one who seemed the most left leaning in their presentation of the schools we toured (many in the northeast).
I would say many schools in the southeast would fit the bill of having a larger number of conservative students. Like UTK, Auburn, University of Alabama, Ole Miss, UTC, UAH, Clemson. But they may not have that gothic architecture look. That was important to my son as well.
I would also suggest:
Boston College- gothic
Notre Dame - gothic
Rhodes college - gothic
Belmont - colonial
Lehigh - gothic. for the record, this is the school our son committed to 
Lafayette - more colonial but still pretty
Wake Forest - colonial
Baylor - colonial
Washington & Lee - very colonial
U of wyoming - mix of styles.
Texas tech -some spanish style (very texas)
Oklahoma state - red brick
Kansas State - I don’t know what you would call the style but the buildings are like whitewashed stone and very beautiful.
Have you checked out the FIRE (free speech) rankings for schools? That might be a good place to start.
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Just FYI Kansas State is all local Limestone. All buildings must include it. My son fell in love with the architecture of the college.
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it looks really nice
Again, thank you to everyone who has replied thus far. This has been really helpful and I’ve added quite a few more colleges to my list! Please keep the suggestions coming!
Also, since some have commented about how most colleges are conservative-friendly…well, in an ideal world, most colleges would be bastions of respectful, productive intellectual discourse and a diversity of viewpoints, but from my siblings’ and friends’ experiences, I’m not sure if that’s the norm anymore.
My older brother went to Stanford, my sister went to San Diego State, and some of my best friends attended USC, Western Kentucky University, and Vanderbilt. These were all pretty recent too (earliest one graduated in 2018).
All of them had varying experiences, but every single one of them said they felt like they had to keep their opinions to themselves a lot of the time due to the culture at these schools or else, speak up, and then be socially ostracized for it.
My brother had an especially awful time at Stanford. He’s moderately conservative like me, maybe even a bit less conservative, and he still had a really hard time socially and in classes. His classmates AND professors would regularly bring up leftist talking points as if they were cold hard facts and if he dared to speak up and offer an alternative viewpoint or a fact correction, the responses were not usually respectful in any sense of the word. He got dubbed a racist, xenophobe, homophobe (particularly funny since he’s gay himself), etc, just for having well-researched opinions that went outside the far left narrative.
Granted, Stanford is known for being EXTREMELY left, but my sister had a fairly similar experience at SDSU and even my friend at WKU (which seems like it would be fairly conservative-friendly) said that most students and professors are intolerant of conservative views being brought up.
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I second UChicago as being a great place for conservatives. You won’t get yelled at because of your views.
But bring your A-game. Just because you won’t get yelled at for your views doesn’t mean you won’t get a strong intellectual pushback during discussions from some pretty intelligent liberal students. If you enjoy this verbal sparring, it might be a great fit for you.
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OP–your concerns are very real. The people trying to minimize your concerns are off target and certainly have not walked a mile in your shoes.
The survey info that I posted has truly astounding data. A sign of the extreme times that we live in.
Here is information from Grinnell College:
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87% of students say shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus is at least rarely acceptable.
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56% of students say they have self-censored on campus at least once or twice a month.
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77% of students say they are worried about damaging their reputation because someone misunderstands something they have said or done.
Judging their own student’s survey responses…I’d say that Grinnell has a serious problem. None of the things above are conducive to discovery and the pursuit of knowledge / truth.
You might think about turning your own question around…what schools should you absolutely AVOID?
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