Colleges For Libertarians, Republicans, and Other Non-Commies: A Resource List
Young people who value liberty are faced with a major life dilemma when it comes to selecting a good college. Thanks to the left’s long march through academic institutions over the last several decades, campuses are often unfriendly — if not downright hostile — to pro-liberty students.
The share of professors identifying as liberal or far left has been rising over the last two decades and is now approaching two-thirds. Likewise, Democrat professors outnumber Republican professors by a ratio of nine to one. Many institutions now require prospective professors to have left-wing values, even going so far as to demand the signing in advance of a values statement.
By and large, the professional left owns US college campuses.
What makes this even more impactful is the effect of this ideogical imbalance on student admissions. These leftist professors tend to select for their own kind, even going so far as to recruit activists in some cases. This means that pro-liberty students will face ideological pressure not just from their professors but from students as well and risk social isolation if they reveal their true opinions.
Nonetheless, there are still many good colleges where prospective libertarian, Republican, and other non-commie college freshmen can find friendlier, more open-minded campuses. Below are a few resources and recommendations to help such students find their way to these happier places.
The Fire Ranking
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) produces an annual review of US colleges regarding the state of free speech on campuses. It’s a thorough ranking, based on a survey of over 55,000 undergraduates that questions students about: comfort expressing ideas, tolerance for liberal and conservative speakers, degree of disruptive student conduct against free speech, and degree of administrative support for free speech.
For the most part, this is an excellent list and a good starting point for finding colleges of interest. But take note that this list is politically neutral — it’s just ranking of colleges by relative comfort of free expression — so it ranks some of the best conservative colleges at the very bottom because lefty students who wandered into those places by mistake (apparently) complained in survey responses that they felt their opinions challenged. So take this list with a grain of salt, but definitely refer to it.
Heterodox Academy Recommendations
Heterodox Academy is “an organization of more than 2,500 professors who believe that viewpoint diversity and freedom of inquiry are essential components of a good academic culture.” They likewise survey students on an annual basis regarding issues related to free expression. Based on their survey data, they recommended ten colleges “where you won’t have to walk on eggshells” in an article published in Reason.
Lists of Conservative Colleges
For conservative students, there are a number of good choices out there. Conservative colleges are pretty much guaranteed to be friendlier environments to pro-liberty students than lefty colleges, but they won’t necessarily be ideal environments for all students who are just trying to avoid communist indoctrination, particularly for anyone who finds Christianity off-putting. Nonetheless, if I had to choose between being around rapid socialists, on the one hand, and cheery Christians on the other, I’d certainly take the latter — so these lists are another potentially useful resource:
Take Note: Tech Schools Are Less Ideological
Leftism is largely a malady of the social sciences, English, art, etc. STEM is decidedly less infected. The chart below, based on data from the National Association of Scholars, shows the ratio of Democrat professors to Republican professors for each of 24 academic disciplines. Although Democrat professors far outnumber Republican professors in almost every discipline, the ratio is far less extreme in STEM.
In the most ideologically balanced discipline — engineering — Democrats outnumber Republicans by 1.6 to 1, and in most of the rest of STEM it ranges from 5:1 to 6:1. At the other end of the spectrum, for anthropology and communications, there were no Republican professors identified in their survey at all (chart maxed out at ratio of 100:1).
That pattern likely explains why tech schools tend to appear disproportionately in the top half of FIRE’s free speech ranking referred to above; indeed FIRE’s #1 pick (out of 254 colleges) for free expression is Michigan Technological University. As they say, people are policy, and the people running tech colleges are simply less leftist.
Take Note: “Party Schools” Are Patriotic, Less Ideological
When the pro-Hamas campus protests “spontaneously” took hold across the country, they were given the red carpet treatment at Ivy League colleges.
Activists then tried setting up shop at some of the so-called “party schools,” typically state colleges. But something unexpected happened. Long-denigrated frat boys, mocked in the media, discriminated against nowadays in hiring and everywhere else, seem to have grown some political spine, and quickly rallied against the lefty protestors at multiple colleges.
In one particularly notable moment, when activists tried to tear down the American flag at UNC Chapel Hill, frat boys defended it while being pelted, until the flag could be rehoisted to its proper place. The photo is iconic and touched the hearts of many.
At other state college campuses, frat boys rose to the occasion as well.
That kind of patriotism makes these places resistant to the latest lefty fads. And most of the so-called “party schools” are actually serious institutions. For in-state students they are often an absolute bargain as well and should be strongly considered.
Recommended Colleges: High Value, Free Speech
I screened the 23 pro-free speech colleges ranked by FIRE as “Above Average,” as well as the 10 recommended by Heterodox Academy, through a filter on Niche, looking only for the ones that ranked highest “A-, A, or A+” with respect to 1) quality of academics and 2) return on investment.
That analysis produced this list of thirteen colleges, all of them expected to have pro-free speech environments, all with superior academic standards, and all generating strong returns relative to cost on educational investment.
Recommended Colleges: High Value, Conservative
I also screened the 100 most conservative colleges, as determined by Niche, looking only for the ones that ranked highest “A-, A, or A+” with respect to 1) quality of academics and 2) return on investment.
That analysis produced this list of ten colleges, all of them expected to have environments welcoming to conservatives, all with superior academic standards, and all generating strong returns relative to cost on educational investment.
Brigham Young University - Provo (UT) (non-Mormans are 2%, but are accepted)
Hillsdale College (MI) (return to cost rating not available)
Recommended Colleges: Personal Favorites
There are two colleges I particularly like.
Hillsdale College is probably the most explicitly pro-liberty college in the US. Mention that you are looking for a good college for a libertarian or conservative kid and Hillsdale will typically be the first recommended. It’s also a great college in terms of academics, ranking in the top quartile of US colleges, with a median SAT score of 1363 for incoming students.
College of the Ozarks might sound hokey but it has an academic model that will knock your socks off — it’s a top quartile college that is technically free, at least it works out that way (see the full description). It’s explicitly patriotic, conservative, requires students to work 15/hours a week, and Christian. It’s not for everyone but for the right student, particularly those with limited financial means, it’s a total win.
An intriguing though speculative choice would be University of Austin. This is a new university established explicitly to foster “an environment of intellectual freedom and pluralism. UATX strives to build and sustain a community based on the lively clash of ideas and opinions.” It was literally created from the ground up for students looking for open inquiry unhindered by lefty ideologues. However, because it’s new, there’s not a lot of information available on it other than their website. Don’t be put off too much by the price; I gather some generous scholarships are available.
Colleges to Avoid
I note that out of the over 250 colleges ranked by FIRE, only one scored the rating “Abysmal,” a category below even “Very Poor” and probably created for this one and only stinker: Harvard University.
It’s probably the loveliest place in the world for the average communist who wants to hear from their professors the echo of their own opinions, but if your application is good enough to get into Harvard, go instead to top-ranked and pro-free speech University of Chicago (see Heterodox Academy comments).
I would also avoid the 17 colleges ranked on this “Best Colleges for Social Justice Activism” list. These include:
American University (DC)
Bennington College (VT)
Brandeis University (MA)
Columbia University (NYC)
George Washington University (DC)
James Madison University (VA)
Macalester College (MN)
Mills College (CA)
Oberlin College (OH)
Pitzer College (CA)
Smith College (MA)
Spelman College (GA)
University of California, Berkeley (CA) […of course]
University of Missouri (MO)
University of Washington (WA)
Vassar College (NY)
Wesleyan University (CT)
A Good Post for Additional Advice
Finding colleges that are hospitable to pro-liberty students is a topic of interest to a lot of people right now, and just as I was working on this post I happened to see another SubStack post offering advice on the same topic from Peachy Keenan. So for additional thoughts on this issue, see Peachy’s Guide to Normal Colleges.
Hello! And thank you for this informative post. I would also like to add Montana State University as one to avoid. My son was set on going, but when I asked if my son would be roomed with another biological male during Orientation, they couldn't even bring themselves to type "biological male" in our multiple exchanges; they only would refer to "gender." "Students will be roomed by 'gender.'" I specifically stated that "gender" means nothing these days and that I wanted confirmation that my biologically male son would be roomed with another biological male, and they would only say "roomed by gender" and that if my son had an issue with his roommate then he would deal with it at Orientation. Montana State is Woke AF. I elevated the issue, and my reply was that by law they can only ask students about gender, but not their actual sex (xx, xy). ???
On the flip side, although CAL is in the Bay Area and is known for its "progressiveness," I would send my son there over Montana State (MSU) any day of the week. UC Berkeley is the epitome of Woke, but I would argue that maybe if you "go into the belly of the beast," you will find that others before have fought to have some sanity there, whereas MSU is fighting so hard to be the most Woke college of Montana that they cannot see the forest through the trees and are only catering to the Woke Mob. I see MSU as naive and fighting hard to be Woke, and I don't think parents have realized that yet. But with UC Berkeley, you know what you are getting into, and there will be a path already laid for the independents/conservatives by those that came before them... But I am biased as I went to UC Berkeley ;)