"Liberal Universities"

[jake williams]

There's sort of a tendency to assume that some American schools, you know, Berkeley, I've even heard Harvard, are sort of "liberal". To generalize it a bit more, you know, you've got San Fransisco or Boston, sort of "liberal" cities. But do these places actually have a real functioning Left, except insofar as "left" consists of "Gays should be able to own sweatshops too"? Does the sort of "American mainstream left" make room for more radical groups, or does it squeeze them out? Or, as I sort of suspect, are the socioeconomic conditions which lead to the American left totally unconnected to the politics most of us would support, even though there is undeniably some overlap.

Any thoughts? Anyone with any experience with these sorts of places and institutions? Is there anyone here who is or has been in a sort of politically charged academic program at a university, you know, political science, history, economics, philosophy, what was the environment like?

[which doctor]

Most of the "liberal universities" are full of ivory tower academics and white upper-middle class male students. Their rhetoric may be radical, but that's usually all it is. I thought about going to one of the "liberal universities", but instead opted to go to a much more working class school.

[jake williams]

Most of the "liberal universities" are full of ivory tower academics and white upper-middle class male students. Their rhetoric may be radical, but that's usually all it is. I thought about going to one of the "liberal universities", but instead opted to go to a much more working class school.
Where'd you go, and what was/is your experience there?

Partly I'm asking out of, you know, political interest, trying to understand the American situation, but partly I'm asking out of self-interest, I'm 16 and trying to figure out what the hell to do about Uni.

[Oneironaut]

In regards to traditional "liberal universities" (Ivy league schools), their current students are sons of the elite American class whose desires are to take over daddy's company, or maybe even out do him out in the end. Maybe the student will write a book someday. Nevertheless, I want to detract from ranting and say that these universities have done a very poor job in raising students' consciousness. Currently, Jesuit universities have been considered "liberal" universities. These universities' demographic is generally white upper-middle class students (more women than men typically). I have had my share of Jesuit education during which I was in the sociology department. Students who were typically involved with sociology at this Jesuit university were for the majority women, many pacifist, even more feminist, and sporting Barak Obama tshirts. I would say the students I was in contact with in Sociology were far more open-minded than the majority of students in other majors (in particular political science whose students were particularly conservative). But they were just as petty-bourgeouis as the rest. As far as your situation goes, if you get a scholarship that will make secondary education a feasible option then you should take the opportunity to educate yourself further and converse with many different types of people. I feel that American universities have done a particularly poor job of raising class-consciousness and I don't know if it is a similar situation in Ontario, but you should not expect to find many, if any, radical cells of leftists at the university.

[last_angry_man]

I think the experiences of forum members may be directly influenced by when you attended school. Those of us old enough to have gone to a "liberal" university back in the 70s probably had very different experiences than someone attending that same school today. I can say for a fact that the school I attended in the 70s was drastically changed by the infusion of crazy amounts of money after I left. During the 80s the school went from a small, very liberal school to a larger, insanely well funded research university. Obviously, that kind of change has to have a serious influence on the overall tenor of the faculty and student attitudes about all things, political and otherwise.

For just one example:
When I was in school, the thought of a ROTC program on campus would have been considered absurd; a throwback to the 1950s. (the existing program had been kicked off campus in 68/69(?) Last I heard, there was still no on-campus program, but interested students were able to participate via the program at MIT. The thought of a ROTC student coming back on campus in his (her?) dress uniform would have been unimaginable in 1977; it probably happens every day now with no one taking a second look

[erupt]

Any thoughts? Anyone with any experience with these sorts of places and institutions? Is there anyone here who is or has been in a sort of politically charged academic program at a university, you know, political science, history, economics, philosophy, what was the environment like?
Have you heard of what supposedly goes on behind closed doors at Yale's secret society, Skull and Bones? Supposedly, they have Geronimo's skull and use it in ceremonial inductions into the society, among other things. George Bush Sr., George W. Bush, and John Kerry (to name a few) all belonged to this secret society.

I, for one, think that that's horrible.

[Encrypted Soldier]

Most of the "liberal universities" are full of ivory tower academics and white upper-middle class male students. Their rhetoric may be radical, but that's usually all it is. I thought about going to one of the "liberal universities", but instead opted to go to a much more working class school.


EVERYONE, IT'S NEWS!

VLADIMIR LENIN, LEON TROTSKY, AND FIDEL AND RAUL CASTRO ARE ALL NOT COMMUNISTS BECAUSE THEY WERE BORN TO MIDDLE-CLASS WHITE FAMILIES!

[MT5678]

Don't forget that Mao's dad was petty-bourgeois!

Anyways, I read in "The Myth of Political Correctness" that in 1984, only 6% of professors described themselves as leftists (not liberals, leftists). Seeing as things have only been getting more conservative since then, how many are leftist now?