Social Justice at Ivies

College Search & Lists
21

@calmom Very interesting perspective. Perhaps, the OP wants the Ivy name AND the social justice moral badge. I can certainly see why attending an Ivy could be hypocritical in this case. At the same time, there is no college in the US where there are no students in the top 1% ( actually I think there is a college Brea that only accepts students whose parents make less than 50K). So if the OP is attending college, s/he is going to have to be fine with this dilemma.

Any Ivy and any college is going to have students who are interested in “social justice” It really depends on the student to find other like minded individuals. The OP also has to decide if they want a fully diverse community where there are many people including those who have no interest in social justice or if they want to attend a college where many feel as they do ( UCal Berkeley or similar). Some are more radical than others. Again radical here depends on what you believe to be worthy/just/useful.

The OP should also think carefully about what “social justice” means to them. For some employers it might be a plus for others it might be a red flag. There are certainly many ways to think about “social justice” just realize that making a college decision based on this criterion doesn’t seem to be the best way to pick a college.

22

I agree with @Happytimes2001. You have to approach college with an open mind. There are relatively few jobs in “Social Justice” and most are found around the east/west coast, where $100k a year is not even enough to make ends meet. For most employers, the word “Social Justice” on your resume will be either a red flag, or useless to them. There are similar degrees that could prove more useful, like “Non Profit Administration.”

23

Note that the OP didn’t ask about majoring in social justice or doing professional work in social justice. It’s possible to be active in these movements without it being your profession. And believe it or not, even those from families who are well off can be concerned about social justice issues. Getting back to the original question, I agree that both Columbia and Brown would have the largest number of students who fit this description, but each of the Ivies has plenty of students active in social justice issues, however an individual may choose to define “social justice.”

24

Right, there’s no SJ major (or it would be exceedingly rare.) In general, it’s about an interest in righting wrongs. And some activism.

If OP had been back to read these posts, I think she’d be surprised at how provincial some of the responses are. Just because a college is liberal or has its share of lib kids, doesn’t make, say, Brown or Columbia, UCB or Whitman or Reed a “college of social justice” or even mean most kids on your dorm floor even give a hoot.

Most kids are reactive, a large number at top colleges have some proactive high school experiences in their communities. Many colleges have ways kids can vol in the community. Fewer kids are true activists or advocates.

25

@lookingforward There are kids who are social activist for few causes that the students think will improve other’s life; but they are involved in other activities. Students learns great life time exeperince and develop intra personnel skills that are so necessary to succeed in complex technological driven world.

26

Of course not – but there are many colleges where the overall distribution of students is much broader.

It seems that some posters don’t know what is meant by “social justice” - and honestly, I’m not sure the OP is, either. But here are some widely accepted definitions:

Dictionary:

Wikipedia:

27

my alma mater (Swarthmore) has a “Peace and Conflict Studies” minor. But I agree that I don’t think that’s what the OP was talking about. I think it was more looking for schools where there is a significant proportion of students interested in the topic of social justice (though that’s not really been well defined by the OP). That may be volunteering in a local underserved community, development trips abroad, advocating to our gov’t for changes in law; it can mean an awful lot of different things.

28

It’s evolved beyond economic, including,

“social justice had expanded from being primarily concerned with economics or stratification to include other spheres of social life to include the environment, race, gender, and other causes and manifestations of inequality.”

Often organizing with others to accomplish ends that benefit the whole community. Or some say, humanity.

I don’t think it’s incongrurnt with attending an Ivy, no matter how many from privileged families. But I see many top colleges as offering equalizing opportunities.

29

Those I know who have truly worked and fought for causes their whole lives went to places like Wayne State and Eastern Michigan U. Without exception, my friends and classmates who went to tonier and even elite schools with the plan to “change the world” all ended up chasing the dollar bill in their career choices.

30

@snarlatron Chasing the almighty dollar is necessary at some point :0
I think kids who are in their teens and twenties are naturally interested in “changing the world” but end up faced with the difficult task of managing their lives. If they are lucky they’ll learn to balance community service (I did not say social justice because based on the definition above I don’t believe in wealth redistribution, or restriction based on “privilege” I do believe in giving back to the community by volunteering, creating projects, working on local boards and giving to charities of your choice. I also believe in someone working for change in big ways.

My financial advisor always says that the people who talk the most about giving back give the least and those who talk the least give and do the most. He sees lots of wealthy people everyday but he said there are very few whose inner and outer persona match. I have always found that interesting.

31

Lol, I don’t let my wonderful fin advisor/friend guide my ethical decisions. And though CC sometimes seems chock full of very wealthy, most people would be delighted to earn 70-80-100k+, which is what my adult, crusader friends get. They’re not 23 years old, they’re managing programs and projects. And a number of them are in partnerships, so two incomes in the household.

I think we need to get away from the stereotypes of the past (that you either sell out or live a life of poverty and tatters for a cause. Or that, today, this is only about a Robin Hood wealth redistribution.) Like any position, you start low and aim for a better stability.

But OP hasn’t checked in since June 8, so we have no idea what she’s after.

32

basically any selective school in the US including all ivies is a great place for social justice… you can’t go wrong imo.

The one though that comes to mind because it’s in the headlines a lot for social justice is Yale.

33

@lookingforward I never said any financial advisor was guiding any ethical decisions. You misread the post. I stated that the financial advisor was in a position to ACTUALLY see how people donated versus how they spoke about being generous. That’s a big difference. In other words, some talk and some do. It has nothing to do with FA, he is just the observer. My point was some people talk about doing selfless acts and some actually do them. Some people talk about giving money and some actually give it.

34

@Happytimes2001 Yes, I initially did, but for other reasons, it struck a chord. I’m a firm believer in active comm involvement of some sort and have heard so many reasons people don’t or won’t.

And have seen how many young folks mistake any thing they do without pay for true service or advocacy. I’d love to hear if OP is active or day dreaming.

35

@lookingforward Let’s hope it’s coming from OP’s heart or at least comes from a place where they want to make the world a better place. I am also a BIG proponent of community activity. Though I tend to dismiss talkers in favor or doers. This is just who I am. Have been volunteering and doing things for a long time and I’m personally not interested in the fanfare just the results. Just got a big check from a local organization going to another local non-profit this morning so I am feeling good about the world today. :slight_smile:

36

@calmom - with regard to the difference between the two Peace Corps ranks:

The direct report from the Peace Corps divides schools into three ranges based on undergraduate enrollment. It then ranks schools within a range based on the absolute number of Peace Corps participants. : The ranges are: under 5K, 5-15K, and over 15K

This methodology favors the schools at the top end of the enrollment range relative to those at the bottom end of of the range. Since there is a factor of three difference in size between the top and bottom of the middle range, the smaller schools may not appear on the list despite having a higher percentage of graduates in the Peace Corps.

The list in your link only covers the top 5 schools in each range, which tends to amplify the bias. For context here are the undergrad populations for some schools.

Cornell 14,500
GWU 11,000
American 8,000
Georgetown 7,500
Tulane 6,500
William and Mary 6,300
Tufts 5,200

Historically, the Peace Corps has published a larger list and all of the schools I have listed are on it. Occasionally, Tufts will not appear due to its small size. It is unusual for Cornell not to appear given its large size, so I suspect that Cornell may have grown and is now in the “over 15K” range. With respect to your observation on Georgetown and Tufts, they are both noteworthy for the strength of their undergrad IR programs (as are GWU and American) so I believe there is a correlation between IR and Peace Corp participation. This would make sense given that IR grads tend to have a more global focus and IR tends to be a feeder into careers in NGO’s.

The Washington Monthly methodology divides the number of Peace Corps participants by “total enrollment” (but they do not specify if “total enrollment” includes graduate students), so the smaller schools within a range tend to move up and the larger schools within a range tend to move down relative to the Peace Corp list.

Note that the Washington Monthly data is usually a year behind the latest direct report from the Peace Corps and the number of Peace Corps participants per school varies from year to year. If one wanted to be more rigorous one would take an average over a couple of years.

For reference, here is the Washington Monthly methodology

https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober-2016/a-note-on-methodology-4-year-colleges-and-universities-7/

and Tufts 2012-2017 rank in the direct reports from the Peace Corps

http://now.tufts.edu/articles/head-volunteering
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/tufts-ranks-high-peace-corps-volunteers
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/tufts-university-ranks-high-peace-corps-volunteers
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/tufts-grads-active-peace-corps
http://medford.wickedlocal.com/news/20170305/peace-corps-recognizes-medfords-tufts-university

37

@Happytimes2001 – It’s wonderful that you donate your money to good causes – but many people opt for jobs and careers that directly serve the causes or communities they want to support, often choosing to forego high salaries – and those people do not have financial advisors or substantial discretionary income. (And sometimes it’s not so much a “career” but an effort to eke out a minimal living while working in ways that are largely uncompensated).

And yes it feels good to write a check – but money is not the same as day-in, day-out work. So the point is simply that the comment of your financial advisor about money donated reflects narrow worldview, simply because it is tied to focusing on how people spend their money rather than what they are doing with their lives.

And “social justice” does not equate with “giving to charitable causes” in any case. There’s overlap – but there are also conceptual differences. I don’t want to get into a debate over it, but part of the concept is a focus on empowerment of the community that is being helped.

38

Social Justice on a global scale Brown places the most Fulbright Scholars…

https://news.brown.edu/articles/2018/02/fulbright

39

As mentioned by others, the distinction between talkers and doers is important in the world of social justice. It is not unreasonable to assume that someone who is passionate about social justice would want to be a doer rather than a talker.

As stated earlier, Peace Corps participation is a good proxy for doers. I reread the Washington Monthly methodology and discovered that it is averaged over three years. That makes it more robust than I initially thought.

But Peace Corps participation does not capture the group of people who choose to act locally rather than globally.

In order to capture these schools I would propose that the Peace Corp rank be augmented by The Presidents Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This is the highest award given out by the government for community service.

Roughly 100 schools are included in the categories of Winner, Finalists and Honor Roll with Distiction.
If we look at the latest 3 years, there were no Ivy League schools in this group. In fact, there there are no universities from the US News top 20 in this group. There are only 5 private universities from the US News top 50.

Emory
USC
Tufts
NYU
Tulane

A few hundred more schools are included on the Honor Roll. There are several more private universities from the US News Top 50 in this group, but only two of them are Ivies:

Stanford
UPenn
Duke
Dartmouth
Notre Dame
Rice
Wash U
Georgetown
CMU
Wake Forest
BC
William and Mary
BU
Northeastern
U MIami
Vilanova
American
George Washington

So there are no Ivies in the top 100 and there are only 2 Ivies in the top several hundred. I find it really hard to recommend an Ivy for social justice.

For those interested who are interested in the full lists for the last three years:
2015
https://www.nationalservice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Honor%20Roll%202015%20General%20Category.pdf
2014
https://www.nationalservice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CNCS_HonorRollProgram_GeneralCommunityService_508.pdf
2013
https://www.nationalservice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2013_hr_distinction_list.pdf
https://www.nationalservice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2013_hr_list.pdf

40

Funny how usc gets a rep as a place as the university of spoiled children. And they rank so highly in volunteerism. It seems that many accepted preconceptions are many times false on CC. Perhaps the truth is a good part of the usc population is an interesting smart and caring bunch.