is berkely all that liberal?

ttgiang15
Tue, 04 Jul 2006 13:52:57 +0000

Before we send DRab out on his mission to find liberal colleges, I want him to keep in mind the principle of volume versus percentage. The sheer volume at Berkeley can make certain things- not necessarily political views- intimidating and overwhelming. Going to the public university debate, many students come to Berkeley as a money-saving proposition and thus do not have the wherewithal to choose a particular environment in line with their own views; a poor, conservative student who wishes to go to a private, historically conservative college might have to settle on Berkeley: certain, smaller, private colleges have the ability to self-select populations and the students with financial means have the ability to choose a college on campus life alone. And, lest we not forget, the historical “advantage” Berkeley has on just about every college in the nation. Those who come here are well aware of Berkeley’s history and, for a select population of incoming students, this is the deciding factor as to why they came here. So, you also must factor in that population of “extreme” students (extreme in that they base their college selection on the prevailing political view of the campus environment). And finally, do not let cheap, commerical rankings (ugh) like Princeton Review direct you as to your ultimate list of 10-20 liberal colleges that you don’t think is hard to find. Keep in mind that I offered voting habits of students and residents of the general population of the area, in addition to providing empirical evidence.

Best of luck on your search,
TTG