This post was written by Hatchet Staff Writer Andrea Vittorio.
In college? Then most likely, you’re liberal – at least that’s what a new study says.
College students tend to take more liberal positions on controversial social issues, according to a report, “The Shaping of the American Mind,” by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The ISI asked 2,500 randomly selected American adults more than 100 questions to measure their civic literacy, public philosophy, civic behavior, and demographics, and found that college graduates “are largely ignorant of America’s core history and enduring political and economic institutions” and tend to fail civic literacy tests. The organization’s 2007 and 2008 reports said that earning a bachelor’s degree does not significantly improve an individual’s civic knowledge.
The study tested opinions on American ideals and institutions, higher education, immigration and diversity, culture and society, religion and faith, and market economy and public policy. Propositions involving social and cultural issues were the most polarizing, including same-sex marriage, prayer in public schools, immigration, abortion, and the relevance of the Ten Commandments.
On the subject of same-sex marriage, the study said 39 percent of Americans with bachelor’s degrees supported it, compared to 25 percent of high school diploma carriers. Meanwhile, 46 percent of people with master’s degrees and 43 percent of people with Ph.D.’s supported same-sex marriage.
Some students interviewed said they are not surprised by the liberalizing effect of college, crediting it to GW’s political awareness and the diversity of campus life.
“I am sure most girls will tell you they met their first gay best friend here. Simple exposure really matters,” senior Peter Weiss, president of GW’s College Democrats, said in an e-mail.
“Even in my own experience, coming into GW has made me question some of the fundamental aspects of conservatism that I grew up with – going from questioning the validity of gay marriage to saying that it’s an important civil right for everyone,” junior Marcus Smallegan, who is a member of both GW’s International Affairs Society and College Republicans, said. “You know, thinking outside the box I think will naturally lead to a liberalizing effect.”
Others said the liberalizing effect of college was because of left-leaning professors.
“It’s no big secret that many fields in academia have more liberals, this is how it’s been for quite some time. And it’s a cyclical relationship so it logically follows that the students of these professors inherit their social views,” sophomore Rob Noel, public relations director for GW’s College Republicans, said in an e-mail.
On the ISI Web site, a message appears that says: “Every study shows that the university is dominated by liberal professors. It is no wonder this country is currently on a slippery slope to socialism.”
Though ISI is officially a non-partisan organization, many online commentators claim the institute tends toward traditionalist conservative positions. The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Feb. 5 article about the study was followed by several user comments that questioned the validity of the study because of ISI’s not-so-independent perspective.
The institute’s Web site also features a list of “founding principles” representing the core beliefs of ISI’s mission that includes limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, and “moral norms of western civilization.”
“I don’t blame right-leaning intellectuals for staying out of universities and academia, I’ve seen first-hand how hostile an environment it can be for people who don’t stick to the on-campus status quo,” Noel said.
