Most liberal and most conservative colleges?

mochamaven
Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:58:51 +0000

Keep in mind, TomServo, that the “water buffalo incident” happened almost 20 years ago, at the height of PC-mania – 20 years ago Bob Jones University still banned interracial dating, but I’m not calling them racist now, 20 years later. Places change.

Besides, you’re conflating “most PC” with “most liberal.” They’re correlated, but hardly the same thing. In fact, some of the most liberal schools in the nation – Yale, Stanford, Oberlin – are not oh-so-PC these days.

I also wouldn’t classify Duke as liberal. From what I hear from those I know who’ve taught there, the students are far more conservative than their peers at other top schools – by which I mean, they’re pretty evenly split between left and right.

Also, an even split between liberal/conservative is kind of tough, so I’m going to make a few more distinctions.

Most “crunchy hippie” liberal: Reed, Oberlin
Most “activist” liberal: Berkeley, Smith
Most “intellectual, limousine” liberal: Yale, Harvard, Columbia

Most religiously conservative: Any evangelical college, Yeshiva U, Catholic U, BYU
Conservative, but not religious: the military academies, Ole Miss, Georgia, Miami Ohio
Right-Libertarian: You can find them anywhere, but lots at MIT and Chicago, and any place with a good b-school