Should a liberal consider UTK? Just how conservative is the campus exactly?

SLCUtahMom
Wed, 01 May 2019 20:10:51 +0000

It is a public school of 22k undergrads. There will be conservatives. There will be liberals. The conservatives will not chase the liberals off campus if that is what you mean. However, the conservatives will not let themselves be silenced - there will be right-wing speakers and campus organizations. There will be a healthy mix of both and lots of civil discourse taking place.

As to your question on how welcoming the student body is to Muslims and those who are LGBT, I’m sure you can find one UTK student who does not support same-sex marriage and one who would be deemed ‘Islamophobic’ by liberals. Just as you will be able to find Muslims and people who are LGBT and people who call themselves allies. You will all survive.

As a large public school, there is no one way the student body looks upon any one group of people or any one issue. Instead, it is a community of over 28k students, each of whom has a diverse spectrum of ideas on all different topics. There will be some you agree with and some you don’t. If you learn anything from UTK or college in general, let it be to not be afraid of those who don’t.