Daughter grew up in south OC/CA, went to conservative Catholic HS. After touring the Arizona schools, Texas privates, and SEC schools ended up at U of Utah. While there are woke elements on campus, they are kept under control by the current president (Mormon alum/former dean of the business school), big donors (mostly Mormon), governor/state legislature. Costs to attend are reasonable from out of state (4 years at $80K), they are building dorms like crazy targeting out of state kids, and when the loons tried to set up a campground it lasted 8 hours before the cops steamrollered it. Football success was invested in new business school buildings and now a new engineering complex.
Daughter had to go home for a month or so her freshman year, but was back on campus that fall and got hired as an RA in the entrepreneur dorm (one of the nicest college dorms you will ever see) where she spent 2 1/2 years serving up until her graduation.
Folks looking for an alternative to UC's or eastern woke schools should seriously take a look at U of Utah. Mormon influence is there-but less than 1/2 the student body belongs to the church. My daughter had no issues as a practicing Catholic there. Very positive experience!
Out west you see a lot of kids looking at places like U of Utah, U of Arizona, and even Grand Canyon (contrary to what you may think it's actually a real university with a NCAA tournament basketball team and is also a massive place with 14000 undergrads living on campus).
U of Utah is looking to add 5000 kids to it's student body and is building 4000 new dorm spots to accommodate them. It's right next to downtown SLC and is surprising friendly to non-Mormon students. Costs are reasonable and they have been very aggressive recruiting in the Northeast/California. Great football team and brand new business school facilities-and a new engineering building under construction.
Wokeism is there but kept on a short leash by administration, governor/state legislature and big donors. They tried to camp out there-it lasted 8 hours before the cops steamrollered it.
May 2 update: anybody else find it interesting that 2 weeks after this article, and some others on other sites, that the "protests" have moved south???
Damn! We tried for years to hide the fact that we now have indoor plumbing and AC in the south, but the word is out. Well, come on down, y'all. Bring your manners and your tolerance.
I live in Nashville and my oldest child is away at college this year for her freshmen year. My number 1 criteria when college shopping was looking for the most non woke place we could find. She has classmates that ended up at Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Yale, etc. She has the grades and financial wherewithal to attend any of those. She ended up at Mississippi State- it had the least social justice presence of any of the colleges we toured. Even poor University of TN Knoxville had more than we felt comfortable with. She is loving it so far, and has a 4.0 GPA. I don't know if it's a generational thing, or a her thing, but the prestige doesn't matter to her AT ALL, when considering going to a more "famous" school. In fact, I would say that prestige is a deterrent to her. It matters more to me, generation x, even though I recognize the chaos that Ivy League schools are currently in. Old habits die hard, I guess. I honor and am impressed by her ability to not be affected by prestige hunting. I hope that's a generational characteristic. Maybe the zoomer generation will bring about good changes.
As a Southerner since 1973 who was raised in KY by parents with roots in PHilly and Boston, let me say this: as my classmates headed to Ivy League schools & to the north, I knew without a doubt I wanted to go to college in the South. And I stayed. I am always stunned by the continuing ignorance about life down here. Sure, there are racists among us still but most of us cannot tolerate them. Yes, many of us elect Republican Governors, and boy howdy, we were glad we did when Covid came around! Our colleges and universities are top notch! And there’s this too: as a Christian, I would refuse to send my child to Columbia or Harvard or Stanford or Berkley or any other “Big Name” school that has allowed outrageous antisemitism to take place. It is disgusting. And should be disgusting to anyone with a conscience. The whole thing infuriates me. Kudos to the Jewish kids coming South! Now, come along with them everyone else with good sense. Seek Education not Indoctrination. Come to the gracious Southern states. You will be glad you did.
As a midwesterner who came down south in the 90s intent on going to Vandy - agreed. I ended up not going to Vanderbilt, but going to college in the South and staying here all of my adult life. The people are friendly, the winters are mild, there's a different kind of vibe here, and the fried chicken is loads better. I highly recommend it.
OK, so Southern colleges and universities are more tolerant and diverse than the Ivy League schools in the North. The question is why is this so.
The answer is that in the South, people value the individual above the collective. When you believe in individual freedom and responsibility, you are already most of the way down the road to being more tolerant. You presume everyone is going to be different. It doesn't surprise nor bother you that people aren't the same as you. You expect to hear different things, to have your assumptions challenged. In a word, the South is simply more open-minded than the North. It just is.
It certainly didn't used to be that way, but times change.
The North is sadly infected with what can only be described as a mind disease. A disease which clearly makes them miserable. So on top of the bad weather, high taxes, and urban blight, they have to be ready to instantly and loudly vow total support for The Current Thing -- whatever that may be this week.
Check out Tulane. Very solid rigorous school with a very competitive acceptance rate. Gorgeous campus and happy students — the latter counts for a lot. Interesting city, NOLA is, lol. The South isn’t what you think. It has moved on.
There's a lot of "North" to this country and believe me a sizeable portion of it is not like the Northeast. Where I live we're a lot like "the South" but a heck of a lot colder.
Dartmouth College is a northern elite school, an ivy league school, that is doing a good job facilitating open dialogue. The Jewish Studies department, chaired by Susannah Heschel (daughter of the late, famed Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel) and the Middle Eastern department, chaired by Tarek El-Ariss, already had a working relationship in place way before Oct 7th.
It's a disgrace what's happening at Columbia, Yale, etc. Why spend $100,000 a year to be attacked for being a Jew when one can attend a Sunny school for a fraction of the price and get a good education!
Thanks for writing this article! I felt like a lot of the reporting was super negative about college campuses and I wasn’t sure that was the reality for campuses in the south (I live in Texas). I guess I just want people on the coasts to know that there’s a lot of just common good people in the middle of America. Thanks for touching on that! Don’t forget us! What I love about The Free Press is that it’s highlighting sanity on the coasts for us in the South too!! (Mainly in your staff!! But there’s hope!)
Daughter grew up in south OC/CA, went to conservative Catholic HS. After touring the Arizona schools, Texas privates, and SEC schools ended up at U of Utah. While there are woke elements on campus, they are kept under control by the current president (Mormon alum/former dean of the business school), big donors (mostly Mormon), governor/state legislature. Costs to attend are reasonable from out of state (4 years at $80K), they are building dorms like crazy targeting out of state kids, and when the loons tried to set up a campground it lasted 8 hours before the cops steamrollered it. Football success was invested in new business school buildings and now a new engineering complex.
Daughter had to go home for a month or so her freshman year, but was back on campus that fall and got hired as an RA in the entrepreneur dorm (one of the nicest college dorms you will ever see) where she spent 2 1/2 years serving up until her graduation.
Folks looking for an alternative to UC's or eastern woke schools should seriously take a look at U of Utah. Mormon influence is there-but less than 1/2 the student body belongs to the church. My daughter had no issues as a practicing Catholic there. Very positive experience!
Out west you see a lot of kids looking at places like U of Utah, U of Arizona, and even Grand Canyon (contrary to what you may think it's actually a real university with a NCAA tournament basketball team and is also a massive place with 14000 undergrads living on campus).
U of Utah is looking to add 5000 kids to it's student body and is building 4000 new dorm spots to accommodate them. It's right next to downtown SLC and is surprising friendly to non-Mormon students. Costs are reasonable and they have been very aggressive recruiting in the Northeast/California. Great football team and brand new business school facilities-and a new engineering building under construction.
Wokeism is there but kept on a short leash by administration, governor/state legislature and big donors. They tried to camp out there-it lasted 8 hours before the cops steamrollered it.
Lots of Jewish kids at U of Arizona also.
May 2 update: anybody else find it interesting that 2 weeks after this article, and some others on other sites, that the "protests" have moved south???
Damn! We tried for years to hide the fact that we now have indoor plumbing and AC in the south, but the word is out. Well, come on down, y'all. Bring your manners and your tolerance.
How is 38% minority enrollment at Southern Miss 'struggling?'
I live in Nashville and my oldest child is away at college this year for her freshmen year. My number 1 criteria when college shopping was looking for the most non woke place we could find. She has classmates that ended up at Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Yale, etc. She has the grades and financial wherewithal to attend any of those. She ended up at Mississippi State- it had the least social justice presence of any of the colleges we toured. Even poor University of TN Knoxville had more than we felt comfortable with. She is loving it so far, and has a 4.0 GPA. I don't know if it's a generational thing, or a her thing, but the prestige doesn't matter to her AT ALL, when considering going to a more "famous" school. In fact, I would say that prestige is a deterrent to her. It matters more to me, generation x, even though I recognize the chaos that Ivy League schools are currently in. Old habits die hard, I guess. I honor and am impressed by her ability to not be affected by prestige hunting. I hope that's a generational characteristic. Maybe the zoomer generation will bring about good changes.
As a Southerner since 1973 who was raised in KY by parents with roots in PHilly and Boston, let me say this: as my classmates headed to Ivy League schools & to the north, I knew without a doubt I wanted to go to college in the South. And I stayed. I am always stunned by the continuing ignorance about life down here. Sure, there are racists among us still but most of us cannot tolerate them. Yes, many of us elect Republican Governors, and boy howdy, we were glad we did when Covid came around! Our colleges and universities are top notch! And there’s this too: as a Christian, I would refuse to send my child to Columbia or Harvard or Stanford or Berkley or any other “Big Name” school that has allowed outrageous antisemitism to take place. It is disgusting. And should be disgusting to anyone with a conscience. The whole thing infuriates me. Kudos to the Jewish kids coming South! Now, come along with them everyone else with good sense. Seek Education not Indoctrination. Come to the gracious Southern states. You will be glad you did.
As a midwesterner who came down south in the 90s intent on going to Vandy - agreed. I ended up not going to Vanderbilt, but going to college in the South and staying here all of my adult life. The people are friendly, the winters are mild, there's a different kind of vibe here, and the fried chicken is loads better. I highly recommend it.
OK, so Southern colleges and universities are more tolerant and diverse than the Ivy League schools in the North. The question is why is this so.
The answer is that in the South, people value the individual above the collective. When you believe in individual freedom and responsibility, you are already most of the way down the road to being more tolerant. You presume everyone is going to be different. It doesn't surprise nor bother you that people aren't the same as you. You expect to hear different things, to have your assumptions challenged. In a word, the South is simply more open-minded than the North. It just is.
It certainly didn't used to be that way, but times change.
The North is sadly infected with what can only be described as a mind disease. A disease which clearly makes them miserable. So on top of the bad weather, high taxes, and urban blight, they have to be ready to instantly and loudly vow total support for The Current Thing -- whatever that may be this week.
It must be exhausting.
Check out Tulane. Very solid rigorous school with a very competitive acceptance rate. Gorgeous campus and happy students — the latter counts for a lot. Interesting city, NOLA is, lol. The South isn’t what you think. It has moved on.
There's a lot of "North" to this country and believe me a sizeable portion of it is not like the Northeast. Where I live we're a lot like "the South" but a heck of a lot colder.
Duke is about as southern as an egg cream.
Here's a great conversation on academic freedom between Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera and FIRE's Greg Lukianoff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDy-ulV8Dug
GO JACKETS!
Dartmouth College is a northern elite school, an ivy league school, that is doing a good job facilitating open dialogue. The Jewish Studies department, chaired by Susannah Heschel (daughter of the late, famed Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel) and the Middle Eastern department, chaired by Tarek El-Ariss, already had a working relationship in place way before Oct 7th.
https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2024/04/sharma-college-community-reacts-to-dartmouths-c-grade-on-adls-antisemitism-report-card
https://www.wcax.com/2024/04/23/pro-palestinian-protests-dartmouth-remain-contained/
It's a disgrace what's happening at Columbia, Yale, etc. Why spend $100,000 a year to be attacked for being a Jew when one can attend a Sunny school for a fraction of the price and get a good education!
Thanks for writing this article! I felt like a lot of the reporting was super negative about college campuses and I wasn’t sure that was the reality for campuses in the south (I live in Texas). I guess I just want people on the coasts to know that there’s a lot of just common good people in the middle of America. Thanks for touching on that! Don’t forget us! What I love about The Free Press is that it’s highlighting sanity on the coasts for us in the South too!! (Mainly in your staff!! But there’s hope!)