is berkely all that liberal?

ttgiang15
Tue, 04 Jul 2006 02:31:11 +0000

Quote: “And ttg, I think people should be more honest and more willing to listen to others.”

DRab, I don’t see why it was necessary to direct this statement at me. When you are saying “people,” are you actually talking to me; that is, that I should be more honest and more willing to listen to others? Please clarify. Thanks.

I felt compelled to share my input given my background. As one can already tell, I felt that the release was not accurate on the “ground level.” This was an important distinction, because political orientation as a campus unit is only worthy of mention as it pertains to one’s daily experiences.

Whatever one puts on their Facebook account is meaningless if they are fearful to voice their opinions in the classroom or at the campus environment. Just a note, but random sampling on Facebook is not an accurate means of gauging any population, since it is not universally used by the entire student population (important- which are the type of people who don’t subscribe to FB?) and there is a percentage of students who don’t list their political views (fear, again) or soften their stance to be more politically correct (as it relates to the general Berkeley population). Facebook is a social network, and it would behoove a student who was conservative to regard oneself as “Moderate” for the purposes of not isolating certain populations.

I share my experiences as one who grew up in Orange County- a conservative bastion in the south- but in a city that was distinguished as having the “Greatest Hardship in America” with a minority population of roughly 85%. The city, as you might imagine, was a strong liberal base and the fear element found there is an apt comparison to Conservatives at Berkeley. Apart from being a minority ethnic group, the city’s view was also a minority among OC as a whole. With that said, I feel my opinions have relative weight, although it is most useful for those who read these threads and describe themselves as “Conservative.”

I don’t feel as though I am perpetuating a misconception that Berkeley is very liberal place. In my opinion, as expressed through empirical evidence, it is. I have also provided the voting patterns of Berkeleyans, voting being the physical expression of one’s political beliefs. I will mention that politics do not govern social life at Berkeley. As such, it is not “bad,” insofar as (for the most part) it does not affect relations between professors or fellow students. However, my justification for calling Berkeley “very liberal” is that you’d be hard pressed to find many more colleges more liberal than Berkeley.

Regards,
TTG