My son is seriously considering Susquehanna U. (He toured it with my husband and I plan to attend an admitted students day with him as well.) He and my husband found the people there quite friendly and they liked the campus. We like the global study emphasis and it seems like a place he could pursue his interest in theater (as a hobby) and get a solid liberal arts background. He has great merit aid. MY QUESTION: We lean a bit more liberal (that may be an understatement) and I wonder why Susquehanna is often mentioned as âconservativeâ? My son is definitely not conservative (heâs very accepting and doesnât need to be at worldâs most liberal school, but I donât see him fitting in at a conservative one. He comes from a highly diverse high school and isnât super political active but is very liberal on social issues, etc.) Just looking for information and appreciate all the thoughtful posts in general in these forums! If anyone can cast any light on things like the student population leanings/vibe or if the administration does anything like silencing protests etc. weâd appreciate it!
@MaineLonghorn probably tell you a lot about Susquehanna!
I love Susquehanna. My daughter graduated in 2020 and had a fabulous education. She was a double major in art history and photography. She studied a semester in Florence.
Hereâs the scoop: The campus itself is very liberal, I would say. The professors went into mourning along with the kids when Trump won. When I visited campus (which I loved to do), I saw quite a few persons of color.
The surrounding area, however, can be pretty racist. My daughter did get tired of that. She had a Black boyfriend from Selinsgrove at the school, and he told her how hard life could be.
She came home much more liberal than when she started college. Sheâs now involved in a lot of liberal causes. Very different politics from her father and me, but Iâm proud of her compassion and dedication.
Originally, she had planned to stay in Pennsylvania, close to her boyfriend, but she decided the area was too conservative and moved back to Portland, which is very liberal.
I note âToryâ-style families from NJ, the Philly area, Delaware, and the Baltimore area have been sending kids to Susquehanna for a very long time. Not just those families these days, but it is one of those SLACs with that sort of ongoing tradition.
Of course today many of those kids are more liberal or moderate than conservative by modern definitions. Still, according to Niche (note the small sample size), around 1/3rd of Susquehanna students surveyed (5 of 14, which again is small) identified as conservative.
That is still a minority, of course. But by modern SLAC standards, it is at least RELATIVELY conservative.
Like, Bryn Mawr had 0 out of 7 identify as conservative. Dickinson 2 of 31. Muhlenberg 1 of 15. Franklin & Marshall 2 of 26. Juniata 1 of 13. Haverford and Westminster 1 out of 12. Gettysburg 2 of 20. Lafayette 1 of 8. Allegheny 2 of 14. Swarthmore 2 out of 11. Ursinus 2 of 10. Even Bucknell was just 2 of 9.
My point is even accounting for the small sample size, Susquehanna is a bit of an outlier . . . but that still puts conservatives in the minority, just a larger than usual minority.
So my two cents is this is a non-issue for someone not super political but generally socially liberal. That will fit right in. And even the minority of conservatives may be mostly more fiscally than socially conservative. So serious social conservatives are likely the ones most in danger of feeling outnumberedâwhich to be fair is true at almost every secular college in the US these days.
I think a lot of these rankings disciple from the area, vs. the school itselfâŠor itâs a preconceived notion - like @MaineLonghorn noted.
My kidâs school was on every conservative list and he was like everyone was a political and so many from Chicago, etc.
The state and area - conservative. Yes.
The school - you wouldnât necessarily know that politics are even a thing.
If you have concerns, visit again, talk to a student ambassador, etc. and get comfortable - and that includes walking the town if there is one, etc. and sort of learn whatâs going on.
Lots of rural places, even in the NE, are very âredâ.
Good luck.
Reputations tend to be backward looking and not entirely current and certainly not forward looking.
For instance my kid who went to Brown was very familiar with its reputation as left leaning. Not until he got there did he realize that in reality current day Brown is left leaning of Cubađ.
Regardless there was plenty of room for people across the political spectrum and political discourse. Sorry I will stop the tangential and self indulgent personal digressions, my bad.
I wouldnât base a decision on reputation but get a first hand feel for the campus âvibeâ if possible and juxtapose it against a kids comfort level.
I have no direct knowledge of SusquehannaâŠbut just noting that many colleges, filled with 18-21 year olds, skew very liberal so even having a more politically balanced student body may cause a school to seem somewhat conservative by compaison.
In any event @MaineLonghorn is an absolutely fantastic resource for Susquehanna.
Thank you so much for sharing this info and context!
Pa resident here! Selinsgrove, and Snyder County, are very conservative. I quickly checked the 2020 stats - 73% of voters in the county voted for Trump. Thatâs probably where the label comes from.
But itâs not at all unusual for the small colleges of PA to be in such places. As James Carville said 20 years ago, Pennsylvania is basically Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.
The rural/city divide on conservative/liberal is not just a PA thing, though. Itâs pretty much everywhere.
While I donât know Susquehanna U at all, Iâd think the campus is probably a solid blue bubble in the middle of red, just like most rural campuses in the U.S. Up to you how comfortable you are with that, but itâs not unusual. Good luck!
Association between an Internet-Based Measure of Area Racism and Black Mortality - PMC suggests that most PA media markets may have higher levels of racism against Black people than most AL media markets.
I would not argue with that. Iâve seen more confederate flags since moving to the North than I ever did down South.
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