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What are the top 10 conservative schools in the nation?

By Viking101 (Viking101) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 01:34 pm: Edit

By conservative, I mean from a political perspective.

By Aspirer42 (Aspirer42) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 01:41 pm: Edit

As in the ten most academically qualified conservatively-oriented colleges or as in the ten schools with the most reactionary political views?

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 02:59 pm: Edit

Hillsdale College in Michigan is definitely a conservative school politically. Others: Wheaton (IL), Furman University, Calvin College, Christendom College, Brigham Young University, Sewanee (the University of the South), Baylor, Auburn

By Lawyergirl4989 (Lawyergirl4989) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 09:49 am: Edit

Washington and Lee

By Anthony (Anthony) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:03 am: Edit

IMO any school worth going to should have both a strong conservative and liberal presence. To my knowledge none of the top 25 schools can truly be placed on either extreme.

By Horseman (Horseman) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:49 am: Edit

Vanderbilt is really conservative

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 11:20 am: Edit

Anthony, you might be very interested in a book called The ISI Guide to Choosing the Right College, put together by an organization called the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Former secretary of education William Bennett is part of the organization.

Anyhow, the book looks at the political climate at about 100 or so colleges and discusses whether they are open to discussion of all political viewpoints or slant heavily to one side or the other. Interesting stuff, especially as some of the schools discussed (including the Ivy's) really appear to go out of their way to discourage any discussion or coverage of viewpoints that are not from a liberal perspective.

The book is also very useful because it provides a detailed description of core requirements and class offerings of all of the schools. I have not found another guidebook that discusses this in such detail.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 11:50 am: Edit

I thought it might be interesting to include some quotes from the book I mentioned above.

Hillsdale College "Hillsdale is conservative in character but this does not imply a unanimity of political views among the faculty. Indeed, there is a great deal of debate on campus - but it's a debate that does not get mired in the muck of academic fads. The faculty's statement on academic freedom...stands in marked contrast to the notion of academic freedom prevalent at most institutions today."

HAverford: "From the make up of the fculty, the course offerings and the general tone of the campus, it seems highly unlikely that more traditional scholars have much luck obtaining teaching posts at Haverford. Unfortunately, this policy reduces the options available to students, who must often settle for one voice rather than many...'The conservative viewpoint is rarely accepted as legitimate," says one student."

Holy Cross "Students say that many classes are taught with a political bent, almost always leaning to the left. The most politicized departments are sociology, anthropology, and psychology, and the history and English departments also offer a slate of courses taught from a left-liberal perspective"

NYU "I think NYU's official motto is 'Better red than to the right of Barbara Boxer," says one student. This outlook leads to some disturbing results. "We hjave an S&"M club, paid for by our tuition, partly because NYU didn't want to discriminate." Many courses, particularly those in the social sciences, are said to be notoriously biased. One communications major warns that her department "has many professors who make their political preferences very clear, and some are even known for allowing differences of political opinion to influence students' grades." One student tells of an education professor who calls Republicans "Nazis" ...

Yale: "Harrassment codes, which on the surface appear to offer protection from misogynists to which only a barbarian could object, in fact act as speech codes used to silence faculty and students who dare to speak their own minds. The situation is revealed through the establishment, little by little, of an atmopspphere in which disagreement with the established order of things is simply not tolerated. "There is a prevasive, continual, all-enveloping atmosphere of praise for some (for example those who work on black lesbian's women's health care) and looks askance at anyone who, for example, might take Aristotle seriously." One student found this atmosphere so off-putting that he "soon grew to dispise the liberal hegemony on campus." "Today, over 90 percent of professors share the same leftist ideology without even thinking about it," says another faculty member. However...a student says that "Conservative students do have an outlet for activity on a dominantly liberal campus...The conservative organizations become centers of debate, discussions, and friendship which complement the coursework and the rest of the Yale experience."

U Penn "At Penn, "there is a lot of room to express your opinion," says one student, and campus conservatives and liberals alike are comfortable enough to make their views known."

Northwestern: Students and faculty describe Northwestern as a school that is generally conservative. As a general rule, the engineering and science departments are fairly conservative, while the social sciences and humanities departments are more liberal. In the social sciences, some departments have screened out candidates whose views were not politically acceptable. In another case, a distinguished cnadidate was passed over because he was black and conservative. Students say their professors are much m ore left-leaning than they are and students and faculty agree that the student body is mostly apolitical or apathetic about politics."

U Michigan "What is the political atmosphere like at the University of Michigan? "Come on, this is Ann Arbor," says a conservative student. "Liberals are proud when it's compared to Berkeley, conservatives are ashamed." It is not terribly unusual, say students, for a professor in, say, the political science department to walk in on the first day of class and declare that he is a Marxist. Another student says that "it is often difficult to be the only person in a class to take a conservative stance on an issue and have to defend it against 30 or so of your classmates. It is even more difficult to write a paper and get a good grade when you disagree with what the professor said. Sometimes you have to sell out on your political beliefs for a good grade."

If anyone is interested in a specific school from the book, I'll be happy to do a snippet from the book.

By Baltodad (Baltodad) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 03:42 pm: Edit

I read through that book too. Although it presents a perspective that is rarely seen among college guides (and therefore refreshing), it is hardly balanced. All conservative colleges... even ones where it would be very unwelcome for students or profs to express liberal views... are praised. All colleges with a liberal bias are faulted.

Clearly, it's not easy to be a conservative at Berkley or Harvard. But it seems there is more of a vocal conservative presence at those schools than there is a liberal voice at Brigham Young, Wheaton (where science professors can't mention evolution), or The Citadel. Yet it's those ultra-conservative colleges that get highly praised by the ISI Guide.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 04:19 pm: Edit

Baltodad - I picked up on that as well - while the authors bash places for being toooooo liberal they don't seem to bash conservative schools for being toooooo conservative. Somewhere there must be schools in the middle (a few were mentioned in the book). One thing I found very interesting was the discussion on each school's core requirements with a focus on a liberal arts education. Now, THAT'S something you don't see in most guidebooks with that much detail.

By Massdad (Massdad) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 04:40 pm: Edit

Carolyn,

Bennett's book is an interesting piece of work, and provides a nice contrast to (for example) the Yale Daily News Guide, where I had the impression that the only difference between various schools was the level of alcohol consumption. I like your quotes, as it does give the flavor of the book.

And here's the problem with the book, and with a discussion of this nature in general:

- Just what does "conservativ" mean? "Traditional Values"? Free market approach to economics like U. Chicago? No drinking? Religious orthodoxy? Lot's of fraternities and sororities? Girls wear skirts?

Each of these would lead to a different list.

Also Carolyn, do you associate "conservative" with "Christian", because your list above is certainly weighted?

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 04:53 pm: Edit

All colleges with a liberal bias are faulted.

My first reaction was ... as they should! That is, however, not a very politically correct statement as our country seems to be equally divided btween conservatives and liberals.

The guide seems to be a great tool for students and parents to make correct choices. We all know the obvious names like Berkeley (a school I would never apply to, let alone attend.) but there are others that are much less known. On the other end of the universe, I would not consider Baylor University a real good choice neither, as it is a Baptist University. One can be a political conservative without having to be a religious conservative.

Inasmuch as I can respect -or try to- the opinion of liberals, spending four years in an overwhelmengly liberal atmosphere would not correspond to MY version of higher education.

By Susaninraleigh (Susaninraleigh) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 07:38 pm: Edit

Does anyone have information on some smalll liberal arts colleges, like Hiram, Dennison, Ohio Wesleyan, College of Wooster, Eckerd College, Ursinus or Muhlenberg. I read Loren Pope's book, Beyond the Ivy League and overall think a small school would fit my needs. But when visiting Eckerd, I asked the senior chem major giving the tour whether a conservative student could speak freely there and she said no, it's a liberal school, you just have to keep your opinions to yourself.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 09:18 pm: Edit

MassDad - I think I'd describe a "conservative" school as one where general political opinion swings to the right towards Republican values. Unfortunately, many schools falling into this category are religiously-affiliated, thus my slant in my list. I know there must be non-religious schools that are conservative but off-hand I can't think of any good examples. Can you? Maybe some of the private schools in the Midwest like DePauw? I don't know.

By the way, like Xiggi I suspect, I'm not in favor of a school that swings towards either side of the political spectrum. Ideally, a good university should have room for all sorts of political views and the private political views of faculty should be kept out of the classroom as much as possible. Students should be exposed to all sides of political discussions and be given the chance to make up their own personal minds after considering both sides. Bennett's book was interesting because it shows just how difficult it can be to find a school where a well-rounded exposure to different points of view is available.

So, maybe the question shouldn't be "name 10 conservative schools" or "10 liberal schools" but "name 10 schools where BOTH conservatives and liberals can feel welcomed AND appreciated." Any thoughts?

By Massdad (Massdad) on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:18 pm: Edit

Carolyn,

The midwest has some interesting choices, like Earlham in Indiana, Alma and Hillsdale in Michigan, or Reagan's alma mater, Eureka.

Unfortunately, most of the above will not excite anyone looking for academic excellence.

I've puzzled over the obvious inverse correlation between having a conservative reputation and having a good academic reputation. It seems the two do not often go together. It's tempting to dismiss this as just another liberal bias on the part of the educational establishment, but I think there is something more than that here.

Take the University of Chicago as an example. Many of its star academics can be viewed as very conservative, but not in a doctrinaire sense, rather in a provocative sense. This leads me to believe that we too often confuse "conservative" with "traditional" in the sense of resisting all change, or worse, advocating strict adherence to a prescribed line of thought. The latter, IMHO, is pretty inconsistent with questioning, critical thinking and enquiry, all part of a good education.

So it is curious that if you want schools that advocate republican values, you would look to schools like Stanford (Hoover Institute, for example) and U. Chicago, as both are homes to some serious free market socioeconomic thinking. Yet, no one thinks of them as conservative institutions.

By Everet (Everet) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 12:29 am: Edit

Carolyn can you tell me what the book says about Cornell university? thanks

By Jlq3d3 (Jlq3d3) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 12:36 am: Edit

please talk about stanford carolyn, thanks

By Geowill (Geowill) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 04:05 am: Edit

I'm suspicious of a college guide edited by William Bennett---a man who, for years, has condemned and criticized liberal groups as being of loose morals and threats to traditional family values; a man who said, "Hypocrisy is better than no standards at all" (CNN, July 10, 2001); a man who lost $8 million gambling on electronic slot machines. I wonder if the students at those conservative schools he praises in his book ever get to discuss his hypocrisy.

By Massdad (Massdad) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 09:51 am: Edit

Geowill,

I'm no fan of doctrinaire, intolerant traditional values either (not that ALL tradional approaches have these limitations), but the book discussed above has some useful information in it. If nothing else, it gives a contrasting view of the atmosphere on a campus, and points out places where PC has gone a bit overboard.

It is unfortunate that, faced with student unrest and criticism, too many institutions caved into current fads and established courses and programs that most of us would consider lightweight at best, faddish at worst. The book does a good job of reminding us of this.

By Driver (Driver) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:49 am: Edit

Completely agree, Massdad. BTW, those concerned with the book's connection to Bennett should be aware that it's not "his" book....he didn't edit it, didn't write any of the comments, and isn't affiliated with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. They just asked him to write the introduction for the previous edition (are they still using that for the new edition? If so, probably not a good choice.)

However, I don't think that the ISI Guide takes a Conservative=Good, Liberal=Bad approach. Their particular bailiwicks are:

1)Core curriculum (they like it); politically liberal Columbia gets very high marks from ISI for being one of the few elite schools that still requires its students to acquire a basic knowledge of the history and literature of western civilization.

2)Corruption of academic departments by fads/politics (they hate it); Politically liberal Amherst gets kudos for academic departments that have resisted "the worst excesses of political correctness and multiculturalism."

3)Politically Correct environment in general (they really hate it); politically liberal Williams College gets praise for having thoughtful, reasoned debates on very hot-button issues, whereas on many campuses such debates turn into shout-downs.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 02:31 pm: Edit

Cornell (from the book)
"Academics: Cornell University quotes - often- its founder, Ezra Cornell, who in 1865 wrote 'I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." Through its size and scope, the university has certainly made itself such a place...In other ways, however, Cornell is not what Ezra Cornell might have had in mind. Certainly in his day a liberal arts core curriculum was something one would have expected of a college; today's Cornell has no such thing. Still, with so many good classes, professors, and programs, the university offers the chance for a stellar undergraduate experience...There are hundreds of solid courses at Cornell. The faculty is top-notch, and most of them teach their own classes...although survey courses can enroll up to fivce hundred students...Cornell has one course, Psychology 101, that, according to its Web page is the world's largest lecture at 1,600 pages...Most Cornell faculty members are committed to undergraduate instruction and available during office hours. Students we intervieweed praised the government departments, including Issac Kramnick, Theodore Lowi, Jeremy Rabkin and Elizabeth Sanders in government; John Najemy and Richard Polenberg in history. Other notable professors include Gail Fine in philosphy and Patricia Carden in Russian literature...With all the good choices hidden in all the choices, students clearly need guidance...warns one student "advising is what you make of it..."
Political atmosphere: Cornell has some politicized departments, including Africana studies and feminist, gender and sexuality studies...Brown may be the most thoroughly liberal Ivy League school but Cornell is the most ouspoken...Student protests are de rigueur at Cornell...So strong is the left-wing radical tone of campus that conservatives "don't have much respect or support," a student says.

Student Life

STudents can find plenty to fill up time outside of the classroom. With about five hundred student groups, Cornell students have no room to complain. The university has a number of liberal political groups and a handful of conservative ones that are "large in membership and very vocal and mobilized." Cornell regularly attracts big name speakers to campus and has a number of student publications. Orientation at Cornell is just that: a week of orientation on where things are, how to get there, and what to do."

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 02:54 pm: Edit

Stanford (from the book)

"Stanford University's reputation as a leader in both the sciences and the liberal arts diminished when it abandoned its Western civilization requirement in 1987 after a storm of student protest led by JEsse Jackson...These events, considered by some critics to mark the coming-of-age of academic political correctness, placed Stanford at the center of a nationwide movement that has virtually removed any systematic study of WEstern civilization on college campuses across the country...Stanford replaced its Western civilization requirement with a controversial "gender studies" requirement, and it began to fill its catalog with politiczed offerings. This appears to have turned students at Stanford away from the liberal arts towards technical fields such as computer science and engineering...As Stanford students turned away from the humanities, so did the school's administration...Despite its turn toward a technical and scientific education, STanford gives considerable apologies for the value of a liberal arts education. 'Stanford provides the mean for its undergraduates to acquire a liberal arts education,' says its catalog. This statement, for all intents and purposes is true enough. Stanford does provide 'the means,' and students who are mature and savvy enough will figure out how to take advantage of courses in the liberal arts. But Stanford no longer requires its students tot take the classes that help them truly become liberally educated...Stanford has no core curriculum. Instead, the university requires that students complete the General Education Requirement (GER), one year of foreign language study, and pass the university-wide writing examination. The GER is divided into four categories: a year-long humanities sequence; three courses in natureal science, applied science and technology, and mathematics, three courses in humanities and soical science; and two courses selected from world cultures, American cultures, or gender studies...Most GER courses are taught in a lecture-style format. Classes are large but at least once a week classes meet in smaller discussion sections taught by graduate teaching assistance...A good alternative to the introductory humanities requirement is the Program in Structuredd Liberal Education (SLE), a sequence of three courses that is one of the last traces of STanford's once strong Western civilization requirement. SLE is a year long residential rigourous writing and literature course that intensely covers the canon of Western civilization along with some material on Hiniduism and Buddhism...The world cultures, American cultures and gender studies requirements of the GER offer little more than leftist politics...but Scattered among the politiczed courses are n umours traditional offerings...One of the GER's greatest disadvantages is that students are not introduced to a cohesive and shared body of knowledge. Because a student's intellectual development is guided by individual choice rather than by the thoughtful application of judgment by a community of scholars, the GER system encourages intellectual fragmentation. The student body never ecomes an intellectual body held together by a common understanding grounded in an examination of the best of what has been thought and said. ...However, one student says "Stanford has high-quality courses and instruction, but obviously it's up to the students to make sure they get the education they want." Students say professors are accesible at Stanford...Graduate teaching assistants rarely actually teach classes but they do often lead discussions or lab sections for larger lecture classes...Some of the faculty members tabbed by students as outstanding teachers are John B. Taylor in economics, John Cogan and Judith Goldstein in political science, Philip Zimbardo in psychology, David Kennedy, Carl Degler and JAck Rakove in history, William Durham in anthropology, John Bravman in materials science3, Kathleen Eisenhardt in industrial engineering, Brad Osgood in electrical engineering, Douglas Osheroff in phsyics, Eric Roberts in Computer Science, Michael Bratman in Philosophy, and Robert McGinn in the science, technology and society programs.

Political atmosphere. "There is a definite liberal slant among the students and faculty at Stanford, says one undergraduate...but students say that the most left-leaning classes can be avoided simply by reading the course titles. "One of my favorite professors here is a committed Marxist, and arguing with him is a pastime of mine," says one student. :"I've never felt any pressure to submit to his views, or felt as though he'd grade me more harshly if I disagreed with him...However, the politization of STanford's campus is everywhere apparent. On any given day, members of the student body demonstrate against everything from racism, human rights, and sexism and homophobia...Demonstrations by the Stanford Community for PEace and Justice are a weekly, sometimes daily occurance...Even coaches must toe the line at Stanford. In 2002, a potential football coach, Ron Brown, was not hired in part because of his Christianity and devote religious beliefs..Stanford's assistant athletic director was quoted as saying "we're a very diverse community with a diverse alumni. Anything that would stand out that much is something that has to looked at. It was one of many variable sthat was considered." While there appear to be any number of outlets for liberal-minded students, faculty and administrators at Stanford, there are but precious few places where conservatives might find solace...One, of course, is the Hoover Institute, a great resource for reasoned scholarshiup on issues of considerable public interest.

By Sadeyedlady (Sadeyedlady) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 05:49 pm: Edit

The book is extremely flawed. It doesn't give a fair view of the schools. It demeans the country's best schools if they are liberal and praises even third tier trash if they are conservative.

Here's a critique on it:

While I've found the ISI guide more helpful and comprehensive than any other college guide I've seen, its biases have the effect of narrowing the population of college applicants it seeks to inform so it's definitely not a guide for everyone. I have a few problems with it: First of all, the book assumes that schools with a core offer a better education than schools with an open curriculum or schools with only distribution requirements.

Secondly, the book is unfairly critical toward schools its editors disagree with politically. For instance, in the 2001 edition Reed College, a very liberal school, is described as a feeding farm for graduate schools and according to the guide, there is too much learning for learning's sake?! Now, what do the ISI editors think schools should prepare their students for? To be good Christians?

Other schools like Hampden-Sydney, a conservative all-male college in VA, get a damage control treatment. I applied to this college, and the way ISI describes it, you'd think it was an Ivy caliber school. The students are described as gentlemen even though the school is notorious for heavy drinking and pictures of nude and half-naked women dotting student dorm rooms.

Having said all of this, I think U.S. News in particular would do every college applicant an important service if it adopts ISI's format.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 09:58 pm: Edit

Actually, I thought the write-up on Reed in the 2004 issue was quite complementary. It praised Reed's devotion to learning and core humanities program and noted that while many faculty and students lean to the left, the campus isn't overly politicized in terms of denying discussion of different points of view.

The book doesn't profess to be a guide book for everyone. It's a guide book for conservative or moderate students looking for a traditional, humanities focused liberal arts education. I don't think there's a guidebook that's yet been written (or even CAN be written) that would please everyone simply because what matters to person A is not going to be the same as what person B is looking for. That's why I find reading several guidebooks and different resources is helpful in piecing together more of the truth of any school.

By Massdad (Massdad) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:03 pm: Edit

Carolyn, good summary of what the book tries to do.

Liberal or Conservative, Agnostic or Evangelical, Free Living or Traditionalist, reading a variety of sources is helpful. One does not need to agree with the biases of the author (and ALL authors have biases) to learn something, especially when it comes to colleges.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:22 pm: Edit

I think if you know what the biases are, it gives you perspective than if you don't.

In picking a movie to watch for example, I know that I probably won't like a movie recommended by a friend who exists on light date type movies, but I may like one she was bored by.
Thomas Sowell gives a articulate discussion of how to choose a college, and is clearly very conservative in political views, ( which I am not), but knowing his biases, allowed me to pick up the information that was helpful and discard the rest

By Strick (Strick) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 09:58 am: Edit

Xiggi, I'm a good Methodist but my wife went to Baylor. By Bible Belt standards it's not a relgiously oriented school at all and has largely separated itself from its Baptist roots (though not as much as formerly Methodist Duke). It's relatively relgious and politically conservative, true, but that's more do to location and clientele than anything else.

Interesting thread, folks. Thanks for the thoughtful posts.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 10:40 am: Edit

Ironically, there is an article in this week's US News & World Report discussing political bias on college campuses. While the main focus of the article is on an attempt by a Colorado politician to get a law passed prohibiting bias of all sorts in the classroom, the article did include a fascinating link:

http://www.noindoctrination.org

This site lists actual student reports of instances where they felt the teacher or school was forcing his own political views on students.
You can search by school. Some of the comments and reports are fascinating stuff.

By Rebeltide0024 (Rebeltide0024) on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 09:39 pm: Edit

In response to Baltodad, I have never heard anything about Wheaton professors not being able to mention evolution, actually much to the contrary.

By Kluge (Kluge) on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 10:28 pm: Edit

The noindoctrination.org site is fascinating. I can't claim to have read all or even a large portion of them, but a pretty good sampling included no complaints about bias from the right. The complaints I read all took issue with a professor who lampooned Pres. Bush, or criticized western society, or supported affirmative action, etc. (One had a mad on about a prof. who was against guns.) The posters who reported their profs to the "indoctrination" cops were really indignant about it. It's clear, they didn't want to have to listen to those views.
Are we to conclude that "indoctrination" or "bias" are exclusively sins of the left? I don't think so. What I do believe, as a survivor of Berkeley in the 60's and 70's, and recognizing a trend when I see one, is that we have now come to the point where there is a new standard for what is "Political Correct", and anything which is not "New PC" is harshly criticized as being inappropriate for public discussion.
So, what is "inappropriate" in the "New PC?" Apparently, any criticism of the current administration. (I think you can criticize Clinton all you like.) Anything which dares to suggest that western civilization in its current form is less than the perfect embodiment of the ideal society. In short, anything to the left of Dick Cheney. If you express those "Non-new PC" opinions, you're gonna be reported to the thought police.
I really, really didn't like the original version of "PC", back in the day. I have to say, I don't much care for the current version either...

By Gumbino (Gumbino) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 02:28 pm: Edit

Susaninraleigh, I visited both Muhlenberg and Ursinus and asked many questions of the students there, particularly at Muhlenberg.

I got the impression that most profs at both schools are fair and won't down-grade a student for conservative beliefs. I was told that the history department at Muhlenberg is pretty politicized (to the left, of course). Some history profs have been trying to gin up anti-Bush sentiment among students, but apparently to little effect.

Ironically, the political science department at Muhlenberg is said to be fair and balanced.

At neither school did students strike me overly PC or the type who live to demonstrate three times a week, yell down conservative opinions and scream 'fascist' at the drop of a hat.

Btw, Muhlenberg is very nominally Lutheran and about a third of the student population are Jewish -- a rare opportunity for conservative Jews are looking for good small liberal arts colleges, but who might be turned off by very Christian schools such as Grove City.

Whatever school you choose to attend, before registering for classes I suggest you check a great website called RateMyProfessors.com. If a prof is too preachy and wastes valuable class time on his/her personal political
beliefs, students will note that in their comments there. (I've found that Muhlenberg students kick back pretty hard at such profs on that site.)

Hope that helps even though it's a few months later than your post.

By Wesleyanstudent (Wesleyanstudent) on Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - 10:44 am: Edit

I am finishing my senior year and have loved every minute, and my brother is going to be a freshman in the Fall.

Ohio Wesleyan University is pretty liberal school. I wouldn't include on your list of conservative schools.

The biggest incentives to come to OWU over other similar schools are our academics, great selection of class and our diversity and location.
The SLU system is unique to OWU and becoming more and more of a plus as the fraternity scene is diminishing. The major benefit of the houses are their parties, which give students a chance to have a good social time (and, of course, drink beer, let's be honest) in a larger atmosphere. The parties are consistently packed and mean that you can meet new people every weekend if you want. And if you love dancing, as I do, then it gives you the dancing scene that many other small schools lack. The SLUs also organize all kinds of other events, like lectures, professor dinners, and fairs. If you have ideas, you can usually get them implemented through your Small living Unit house.
Ohio Wesleyan is a lot like many other small New England liberal arts colleges, but the several things I listed earlier are what really make it different, and better in my opinion. You might think being in Ohio for four years is awful, but Columbus is so close that you can have a lot of fun here.!