Am I going to the wrong college? Thinking about Santa Cruz.

[CynicalIdealist]

Comrades,

I currently attend Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I decided to attend L&C for three reasons:


I yearned to become independent by leaving my state (California).
Two of my cousins were students at L&C before I came here, but one is now taking a break due to personal troubles and the other graduated last year.
It's pretty I guess. Ranked among the most "godless" and good looking campuses in the U.S. by the Princeton Review iirc.


It's a liberal arts college, so most of the students are fairly bourgeois, and student activism is essentially non-existent. I also get tired of passing by the same people every day; add that to the fact that I relate to most nobody here and have made few friends, and I feel like I'm in a big prison sometimes. The student body is "liberal" insofar as it's secular and pro-individual liberties, but it doesn't go far beyond that.

I'm thinking of attending UC Santa Cruz instead, as it seems to veer a little more toward what I'd want in a student body. With that said, the larger student body could cause some problems for me (especially given my degree of social awkwardness :blushing:), and the larger class sizes mean little opportunity for class discussion--which is one of the few things I like about Lewis and Clark--but that aspect of L&C is expendable I suppose. I'm also aware of the fact that the majority of "leftism" at Santa Cruz would probably be more equivalent to liberalism, but that's something I can live with as long as some level of activism and consciousness is there.

I'm currently in the second semester of my sophomore year at L&C, but I had planned to attend for a fifth year anyway. Thoughts on transferring to UC Santa Cruz?

[genstrike]

It's a liberal arts college, so most of the students are fairly bourgeois, and student activism is essentially non-existent. I also get tired of passing by the same people every day; add that to the fact that I relate to most nobody here and have made few friends, and I feel like I'm in a big prison sometimes. The student body is "liberal" insofar as it's secular and pro-individual liberties, but it doesn't go far beyond that.

Welcome to "every college and university in Noth America"

[CynicalIdealist]

^True >_> but elsewhere I'd actually get to be a part of protests over cuts, pro-Palestinian stuff and... somewhat active SDS chapters I suppose. Anything is better than this damn bourgeois homogeneous place.

[Delirium]

Get the fuck out. Do what makes you happy.

[Decolonize The Left]

Comrades,

I currently attend Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I decided to attend L&C for three reasons:


I yearned to become independent by leaving my state (California).
Two of my cousins were students at L&C before I came here, but one is now taking a break due to personal troubles and the other graduated last year.
It's pretty I guess. Ranked among the most "godless" and good looking campuses in the U.S. by the Princeton Review iirc.


It's a liberal arts college, so most of the students are fairly bourgeois, and student activism is essentially non-existent. I also get tired of passing by the same people every day; add that to the fact that I relate to most nobody here and have made few friends, and I feel like I'm in a big prison sometimes. The student body is "liberal" insofar as it's secular and pro-individual liberties, but it doesn't go far beyond that.

I'm thinking of attending UC Santa Cruz instead, as it seems to veer a little more toward what I'd want in a student body. With that said, the larger student body could cause some problems for me (especially given my degree of social awkwardness :blushing:), and the larger class sizes mean little opportunity for class discussion--which is one of the few things I like about Lewis and Clark--but that aspect of L&C is expendable I suppose. I'm also aware of the fact that the majority of "leftism" at Santa Cruz would probably be more equivalent to liberalism, but that's something I can live with as long as some level of activism and consciousness is there.

I'm currently in the second semester of my sophomore year at L&C, but I had planned to attend for a fifth year anyway. Thoughts on transferring to UC Santa Cruz?

I looked at both L&C and USSC when I was applying to college (ended up going somewhere else) and they both looked alright. L&C is a private liberal arts school which means that it has the benefit of having smaller classes, more discussion, easier access to professors, etc... These things were very important to me in regards to my learning.
USSC has a beautiful campus, great weather, and several strong programs. And yes, it has a more 'active' student body, although this is largely due to the larger amount of students on the whole.

In short, you should make a 'pros and cons' list and think really hard about this decision. You should also see if you'd save any money by transferring, how your credits will transfer, and how much it costs to live in Santa Cruz.

Then make your decision.

- August

[Comrade Ian]

UC Santa Cruz has a branch of the International Socialist Organization and also a fairly large class-struggle Anarchist community (Also a lot of non class-struggle Anarchists but they don't tend to do anything). There's also probably one of the least sectarian environments in the Country (No real Stalinist presence helps), I'm friends with most of the Anarchists here even some of the ones who I first met when they were denouncing me. Activism has been slow recently but last year we had a campus strike/shutdown that gave every worker the Day off and before that we had a 4 day occupation of the main administrative building, was my first experience being shoved out of the way by Riot Police. Important academically there is a "History of Conciousness" Department which is the department Huey Newton received his PHD from. Next quarter I'll be taking a Graduate Seminar with Gopal Balakrishnan (An editor of New Left Review) on Historical Materialism. There have also been classes offered through it on Marxism and on Social Movements some of which are open to all undergraduates. If you're major isn't too intensive (I'm a Politics Major) then you can take a few extra Hist Con classes on the side and get the closest thing to a Marxist/Revolutionary education you can get anywhere in the country.