West Point Named 7th Most Conservative College in US

aspen
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:34:45 +0000

Warning: Don’t take this posting serious. I don’t.

As I read your post a thought struck me. I think USMA should actually be listed among one of our coutry’s most socially liberal, rather than conservative, schools. With further thought, I concluded that generalizations and labels are difficult to make, dangerous to use, and should be avoided whenever possible.

One definition of social conservatives defines them to be individuals who support the ‘conservation’ of the status quo within our social system. If you take the position that the social changes that have taken place at most of our colleges during the last 40-50 years are now the status quo, then the USMA is not encouraging or enforcing the status quo.

Further following this warped sense of logic, social liberalism refers to support for educational reform, civil rights, human rights and civil liberties in opposition to the status quo values and beliefs. To the extent USMA promotes values differing from those of the current mainstream colleges, USMA could be labeled a socially liberal institution.