@Empireapple – interesting – because I nearly spit out my coffee thinking: why would anyone be seeking out a particular political persuasion, such as conservative, in history department?
It’s almost like that person wants to have their views confirmed without ever being challenged.
But surely that can’t be!
You do not have to be Marxist to study the history of Marxism, just like you do not have to be pro slavery to study the history of slavery.
Elon seems well balanced and has a sizeable Jewish population
@lvvcsf: Regarding Hillsdale College, here is a quote from its website about its mission: “As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains ‘by precept and example’ the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.” https://www.hillsdale.edu/about/mission/. A search for “Hillel” on the Hillsdale website yielded no results; although there is a reference to Hillsdale Chavarah, here: https://www.hillsdale.edu/campus-life/spiritual-life/hillsdale-chavarah/
My mother-in-law, who grew up in Michigan and went to Albion College, tells me that back in the day, Hillsdale did not have a reputation of being overly “preachy” (in her words); but that seems to have changed in the recent past.
@Dustyfeathers , @Empireapple - I used to think that the concept of colleges being filled with “close-minded liberals” involved an oxymoronic term and was an exaggeration by the alt-right.
Not any longer!
It does seem like there can be an orthodoxy of view that could stifle debate and reduce the rigor of exploring and defending ideas. And if liberal Democrats like me feel perturbed by that, I can imagine how a conservative student would feel!
But I think that culture of orthodoxy is driven more by students than by professors. And a student who articulates a different view within the classroom, and backs it up with facts to support it, still does seem to get treated with respect.
(I look forward to seeing how this plays out across the next four years, and hope to report back that this early post I wrote is not accurate over time!)
Another thing you can do is take a look at schools in states with looser gun laws . Not all of those states fit, but there >>may be some good options in those areas with very pro 2nd amendment populations.My state has a zillion hunters and pretty liberal carry laws but I can’t imagine you’d find anyone in the History >>>>departments of the flagship university, or even the directionals, who would be happy with either.
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I said you MAY find options, not you WILL find options. I do agree with you though. Its pretty weird that so many adamant supporters of the 1st are not thrilled with the 2nd, and vise versa. I like them both so, I’m going to stop right here 
Another thought, if he has the grades and desire, are the service academies. They are about as conservative as you can get without being religious colleges. I watched some USMA history lectures and discussions online and they were pretty good. Very factual without any hint of political leanings. I know someone who occasionally presents there and he is as conservative as it gets, but his expertise is not political biased at all. Just the facts… boring …boring…facts. Believe me, I’ve been cornered for hours listening to his lectures
“Its pretty weird that so many adamant supporters of the 1st are not thrilled with the 2nd, and vise versa.”
Some supporters of the first might have different interpretations of the meaning of the 2nd than you do.
“Some supporters of the first might have different interpretations of the meaning of the 2nd than you do.”
I get it. I’m not a big gun guy. I only own one long gun (no handguns) and my parents are like “what do you need that for?”. They think only the police should have them which freaks out the other side.
It was just an observation since we were talking about finding conservatives in a history department and I’ve seen the hypocrisy on both sides.
I’m out.
From your post, is sounds like you, the parent, have concerns about religion and political affiliation. I find this very strange. You should not be emailing any faculty, in my opinion. If your son has these concerns, let him send the emails.
College is a time to explore new ideas. What are you afraid of?
@AndrewBander I agree with somebody upthread who suggested that you might best be served at a flagship public university. You are likely to encounter a large cross-section of students and faculty from diverse backgrounds, both politically and economically. Ditto for the U Chicago recommendation - the administration there has been very vocal about providing a climate for open debate.
Dustyfeathers I took it that just one “bend” was represented and information skewed. That was what the OP was trying to avoid.
The Grey King…I think it really depends where one is geographically in the country.
No one should be surprised that politics has become nastier, hyperpartisan, more hardline, and more intolerant, and will probably continue to do so, because politics is now strongly associated with race, which (for most people) is an unchangeable personal identity characteristic that others judge you by (often in undesirable ways). Of course, the racists and the alt-right being the noisiest part of the right and the part that gets the most attention helps drive that trend, though it is not all due to that.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/7/30/17505406/trump-obama-race-politics-immigration
Hyperpartisanship and the stronger association between politics and race also means that civil discussion about policies and issues, even those which used to be seen as unrelated to race (e.g. environment, economics, foreign policy), is less likely, and people tend to just adopt their (racially associated) party’s views on the matter now.
Note that even history can be partisan. Beyond the tendency for the right to minimize the uglier bits of American history and the left to give such uglier bits more attention, even history that should be essentially settled facts is not agreed on by the general public. For example, compare:
http://www.people-press.org/2011/04/08/civil-war-at-150-still-relevant-still-divisive/
and
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states
I’m not sure this is true. American electoral politics have been horrifically nasty from the very start:
https://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/donald-trump-is-nothing-new-politics-have-been-nasty-since-the-1800s-1.10732332
I’m also unclear why “partisan” is considered negative. Politics isn’t about consensus (if consensus were possible, we wouldn’t need politics!); it’s about the groups with opposing objectives contending for power, plain and simple.
But back to the question at hand:
Most history departments at most colleges are politically moderate. They may have some outlier profs to the right and left, but reputable colleges whose history departments are dominated by Marxists (or other leftists like left-Anarchists; again, liberals are categorically not leftists!) are vanishingly rare.
In a less hyperpartisan environment, sometimes useful compromises can be made, or people and politicians may takes sides on specific issues that are not necessarily party line. And some issues which may have had some controversy, but not on party lines, are now divided by party lines: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-paris-climate-agreement/ . I.e. people and politicians are force-fitting themselves into parties, even if their actual political beliefs do not uniformly match.
Looks like it bothers you that common US terminology differs from that in some other countries.
“Liberal” in the US is usually synonymous with “left”, although “left” in the US may not be very left compared to that in many other countries. “Liberal” in many other countries is closer to what is called “libertarian” in the US.
Yes, because there’s also a Left in the US, and it’s very, very new to call (center-right) liberals “leftist,” a descriptor that erases the existence of an actual anti-liberal Left.
I think it’s good that the parties are more divided; it’s a pleasant diversion from the fact that the members of the ruling class have (and have always had) far more in common with each other than with the rest of us. It’s when they agree that I get worried (for instance, disastrous military actions and budget-crippling military budgets).
And how is it desirable when ordinary people just end up hating each other based on partisan differences (now often seen as equivalent to racism), resulting in the increasing fear of “going into enemy territory” (e.g. attending a college which one perceives as being mostly filled with opposing partisans)? Or that something like (non-recent-American) history can be so heavily politicized that even basic facts are disbelieved in an often partisan manner?
Those are problems that I think any reputable undergrad history education should help resolve, to be honest, and as you’ve see, I’ve repeatedly written that history departments in the US aren’t ideologically radical at all. I think it’s good for political parties to be partisan; the extension of this partisanship into everyday life in the form of asinine “culture war” nonsense is a distraction from actual power politics.
I think I’m with @marvin100 on the terminology. With very few exceptions, moderate social democrats are about as “left” as mainstream politicians get in this country; most of them are afraid even to call themselves social democrats. AFAIK, the only colleges or universities in America that overtly profess an institution-wide ideological doctrine (in terms of curriculum design and other policy) are conservative schools, such as so-called Christian colleges.
For purposes of this discussion, I’m not sure it matters, although it might be helpful to define more clearly what exactly the OP does or does not want. It also would be helpful to clarify the other factors that affect nearly any college choice, such as stats, budget, and size/location preferences (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider-p1.html).
Precisely because most colleges do not profess an institution-wide ideological doctrine (and don’t have political litmus tests in hiring), you’re unlikely to find comprehensive survey data on faculty political views. I’d suggest first filtering by size/location/selectivity/budget/etc. Then after you’ve identified 15-20 candidates, do the hard work of researching course descriptions, faculty bios, and student reviews. Overnight visits might be especially important in this case.
Thank you for the responses so far! Below are the colleges we’re considering. Location and size of college isn’t important, my son doesn’t have strong preferences in that regard. Budget may not be important as he’s considering ROTC to pay for college. Seton Hall gets a pass in terms of not having any Jewish life on campus, because it’s local and he could maintain his Jewish connections at home. Any further information on these history departments (in terms of their political orientations or other “insider” info you might know) would be appreciated!
Pitt
Colgate
Miami
Arizona State
Bucknell
RIchmond
Florida
Texas
Binghamton
Kenyon
Florida State
Denver
Syracuse
Penn State
VA Tech
Montclair State
Baruch
Hobart
Washington and Lee
Claremont McKenna
Wake Forest
Tulane
UCLA
George Washington
Maryland
Case Western
Seton Hall
George Mason
Chapman
Carnegie Mellon
Arizona
Texas A&M
I suggest going to the department websites for the schools you’re interested in. Look at the faculty bios/CV’s/publications. Look at the required courses for the major and scan the descriptions of the required courses and the electives. All this should be pretty easy to do online.