College and University Tolerance

Very broad question.

I guess it depends on where you go. I got my education in KY and MO. Most of my professors were conservative, but not over the top. I never went to any kind of political function. I'd like to think not all colleges are as outrageous as some have the reputation of being. Depends on the staff and where they get their money from.

There are many colleges, of course, that tend toward specific groups: I, for example, would probably not want to attend Regent University or California Baptist University.

For other schools, it largely depends on local culture. Ole Miss and UC Berkeley are both state schools, under the governmental protections that implies. They have radically different cultures, though, and each will be tolerant and intolerant of other things. (Berkeley, I learned, is intolerant of people wearing Stanford sweaters. Who'd've guessed? )

AJMarks said:

Seems like there has been a lot of news about colleges and universities. So the question is simple.
Are colleges and universities tolerant of ALL groups? And I mean all of them, gay, Christian, liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, socialist, capitalist, etc.

Click to expand...

I attended a private, Catholic university (I am not Roman Catholic). The only group I would say struggled on campus was the very conservative.

The uni I went to was (at one point) voted the most politically apathetic university in the US at one point. So more or less, it was anything goes.

That said, all universities are going to have different things that fall in different places on the spectrum of acceptance. If there's a more specific question the OP has in mind, might be helpful to narrow it down.

eta: ROTC was very welcome on campus, and many of the students who participated were friends of mine, who were quite conservative. There was no issue with them having the views they did on campus.

Like Taylor said, I think it depends on where you go, but I can speak from my own experience.

Like many colleges, the one I will soon be graduating from is left-wing. Although most of my professors aren't blatantly liberal, it's not hard to tell what their political views are. I've had a few professors that were more open about it though. I had one macro economics professor who would rant and curse about how the younger George Bush stole his retirement money. He opened class by showing us a clip from the Daily Show, and some of the questions on his tests amounted to us explaining to him in detail how Republicans ruin the economy. Quite an amusing class, and a great way to earn a math credit.

As far as the overall atmosphere of the college goes, we're extremely welcoming of minorities and everyone on the left side of the political spectrum, but when it comes to anything on the right... eh, not so much. You won't be blatantly discriminated against, but your opinions would pretty much get dismissed out of hand in a lot of contexts. I know a lot of people who openly mock and belittle anything and anyone right-of-center. I'm a liberal, so it doesn't bother me much, but I could see it getting frustrating for anyone who held those views.

it depends on the college and the region.

but it i were looking for a tolerant college, i would avoid clown college.

seriously, those guys...

those guys.

Well, but whatever you may want to say about clown college, they *do* fit everyone in.

yes. they are a very efficient race.

It's genetic, I hear. Too bad they look the way they do though.

the squeaky nose and water-squirting corsage ain't so cute when they're marching you behind the barbed-wire.

Harvard will be tolerant of much different things than UC-Berkeley, which will different of much different things than Ol' Miss, which will be different of much different things than Brigham Young or Oral Roberts (the Universities, not their namesakes).

Some universities stress the generational enforcement of so-called proper behavior, while others believe that allowing their students to blow off steam (so long as no one gets hurt or destroys anything) is good for them.

Clown college is bad. You always try and put your best, ginormous foot forward, but you almost always end up in a cannon.

But the worst is reindeer school. They're always some poor schmuck who they won't let join in on the reindeer games.

sorry, AJ, for the clown college derail. obviously it deserves its own thread, if not subforum.

i'm perplexed by your OP. you reference "lots o' news" but provide no link as a jumping off point, just a question that can only be answered naively and with total disregard for the fact that institutions, much less human individuals, are not monolithic or homogeneous, but rather reflect the constituent beliefs and attitudes of many varied people.

where you going with this?

AJMarks said:

Seems like there has been a lot of news about colleges and universities. So the question is simple.
Are colleges and universities tolerant of ALL groups? And I mean all of them, gay, Christian, liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, socialist, capitalist, etc.

Click to expand...

Quite frankly this is at best a woefully ignorant question.

But once again, its borderline trolling.

Because I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, I'm going to assume you're not concern trolling.

What colleges where? In the U.S.? Surinam? Mexico? Scotland?

In the U.S. this is a particularly poorly worded question because we have private colleges and universities, we have private colleges and universities associated with particular religions (even particular churches) and we have publicly funded state colleges and universities and community colleges and universities.

And all of those can have specific requirements enforced by federal laws, like Title X, like 508, like HIPPA, like COPPA and like FERPA.

So do you want rephrase your question ?

William Haskins said:

where you going with this?

Click to expand...

Clearly not to clown college if he knows what's good for him.

here's the latest: students at Emory College are demanding action because someone wrote the word "Trump" or "Trump for President" in chalk on sidewalks and stairways around campus. Apparently the students are scared and don't feel safe.
I'm no fan of Trump, but good grief.
http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-chalk-emory-students

Here's a recent article discussing the situation:
http://blog.heartland.org/2016/03/campus-radicals-attempt-to-stifle-free-speech/

Gregg said:

here's the latest: students at Emory College are demanding action because someone wrote the word "Trump" or "Trump for President" in chalk on sidewalks and stairways around campus. Apparently the students are scared and don't feel safe.
I'm no fan of Trump, but good grief.
http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-chalk-emory-students

Click to expand...

I'm not entirely defending them, but if a student happens to be Muslim, or Hispanic, the fears of how their personal well-being and safety would be affected by a Trump presidency (or more immediately by the apparent aggressive tendencies of some Trump supporters) aren't exactly unfounded.

raburrell said:

I'm not entirely defending them, but if a student happens to be Muslim, or Hispanic, the fears of how their personal well-being and safety would be affected by a Trump presidency (or more immediately by the apparent aggressive tendencies of some Trump supporters) aren't exactly unfounded.

Click to expand...

What are these students supposed to do when they go home for spring break or summer vacation and, as they drive around their town, see numerous "Trump for Prez" signs? Go home and hide under their bed? Or when they graduate, get a job, and find that a bunch of their co-workers support Trump? Demand a safer place to work?
Sure, a Trump presidency is a scary thought. And for me so is a President Clinton or President Sanders . But preventing them or their supporters from speaking (or putting up signs) is not acceptable.

Gregg said:

Here's a recent article discussing the situation:
http://blog.heartland.org/2016/03/campus-radicals-attempt-to-stifle-free-speech/

Click to expand...

They're using civil methods to indicate their feelings. They have a right, even an obligation, to do that.

The campus has responded appropriately.

It's not like this kind of thing is new, either.

It goes back to the middle ages, and the birth of universities.

Gregg said:

What are these students supposed to do when they go home for spring break or summer vacation and, as they drive around their town, see numerous "Trump for Prez" signs? Go home and hide under their bed? Or when they graduate, get a job, and find that a bunch of their co-workers support Trump? Demand a safer place to work?
Sure, a Trump presidency is a scary thought. And for me so is a President Clinton or President Sanders . But preventing them or their supporters from speaking (or putting up signs) is not acceptable.

Click to expand...

As I said, wasn't entirely defending them. The first link you provided indicated that the students felt as if the chalking was meant as intimidation, and they felt their personal safety was threatened. Some believed it was a warning of a planned shooting. Were they overreacting? Maybe, but it's not like violence in unknown amongst Trump's supporters, and from the quotes in the article, their fear, whether or not it was justified, was sincere. For me, that's waaaay different than the more general dread that comes with a candidate you are strongly opposed to winning the presidency, and it's not (in this case) a silencing tactic.

Gregg said:

But preventing them or their supporters from speaking (or putting up signs) is not acceptable.

Click to expand...

That's not up to you, or me; it's up to Emory, and Emory has responded in an eminently appropriate manner.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-some-students-said-they-no-longer-feel-safe/

http://www.snopes.com/emory-students-trump-graffiti/

Apparently, Emory has set up places on campus where students can post political sighs. The Trumpites violated those rules, so Emory did act appropriately in that aspect. I don't think any of us can speak to the motive for the Trump supporters. Did they want to scare Trump opponents or just try to show that there is a lot of support for Trump on campus. I don't know.

What's really unfortunate about these types of things is that they just give Trump more free publicity and embolden his supporters - and probably add to his support.
Sure, he scares me, but I'm not going to run to somebody and ask them to protect me - I'll just vote against him.

Gregg said:

Apparently, Emory has set up places on campus where students can post political sighs.

Click to expand...

"Well, if it's who you really want to vote for, dear...," she sighed.