Rank the T25 -- Most liberal to most conservative Forum

[steindle]

16. Minnesota

You mean the state that just elected Al Franken?

[tbx59]

These conservative and liberal threads seem to be useless...I would venture to say that all noteworthy law schools like all higher education institutions are made up of majority liberal faculty (democrats) and liberal students (democrats) so in essence what you all are doing is a ranking of most to least liberal....whenever liberty university law school makes it to the top 30 I will give this notion of conservative v. liberal some validity...

Yes. There is a negative correlation between education and neo-conservatism . But the past 10 years and next 10 will determine this matter for the next generation as the old guard will be retiring soon.

To the dyad of the ignoramus: liberal and conservative: like the poles of the earth, they shift, but the same morons stay signed-up.

[ksimon2007]

These conservative and liberal threads seem to be useless...I would venture to say that all noteworthy law schools like all higher education institutions are made up of majority liberal faculty (democrats) and liberal students (democrats) so in essence what you all are doing is a ranking of most to least liberal....whenever liberty university law school makes it to the top 30 I will give this notion of conservative v. liberal some validity...

Yes. There is a negative correlation between education and neo-conservatism . But the past 10 years and next 10 will determine this matter for the next generation as the old guard will be retiring soon.

To the dyad of the ignoramus: liberal and conservative: like the poles of the earth, they shift, but the same morons stay signed-up.

lol pretty good...I would love to see new leadership in my party.

[bonnieblue]

Conservatism in Texas is rather unique for the south, owing to the state's strong oil economy and nature as a boom town. Lots of entrepreneurs moved to Texas these past fifty years and made big money while mostly ignoring religion, ethics, and politics and they'll throw their lot in with any party that lowers their taxes. Compared to Texas, the economies of most conservative states is extremely weak and culture is much more important to their brand of conservatism than Texas.

Since academia is more or less divorced from the industrial economy, the University is more or less separated from the central pillar of Texas conservatism.

Absolutely ridiculous. Texas is extremely culturally/socially conservative. Obviously, Austin is much less so.

ya I would argue Texas is one of the most conservative in the south...really outside of South Austin(contrary to popular belief, alot of Austin is VERY conservative) and the poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, I doubt you could find more conservative places

[art vandelay]

Conservatism in Texas is rather unique for the south, owing to the state's strong oil economy and nature as a boom town. Lots of entrepreneurs moved to Texas these past fifty years and made big money while mostly ignoring religion, ethics, and politics and they'll throw their lot in with any party that lowers their taxes. Compared to Texas, the economies of most conservative states is extremely weak and culture is much more important to their brand of conservatism than Texas.

Since academia is more or less divorced from the industrial economy, the University is more or less separated from the central pillar of Texas conservatism.

Absolutely ridiculous. Texas is extremely culturally/socially conservative. Obviously, Austin is much less so.

ya I would argue Texas is one of the most conservative in the south...really outside of South Austin(contrary to popular belief, alot of Austin is VERY conservative) and the poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, I doubt you could find more conservative places

Texas as "one of the most conservative in the south"? I could not disagree any more at all. Are you kidding? As huge and increasingly diverse as Texas is, you still consider it more conservative than, say, Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Alabama? Mississippi? Even Tennessee?

With regards to the "poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio..." I hope you refer to social conservatism. These people are mostly minorities (black or Hispanic) who tend to hold strong beliefs on issues like gay marriage (they oppose) and abortion (Mexican Catholics= strongly oppose, and ditto black Baptists to a lesser degree). However, please look at a map of TX legislative districts, be they state or federal. You'll find these poor inner-city areas are basically dominated by Democrats, just like elsewhere in the country. On most other issues that don't involve morality, they agree with Dems.

Of course, the 'burbs are largely Republican, so they do hold conservative views on social issues as well as more free-market economic views.

[jaen78]

anyone who asks people to try and rank 25 schools based on this criterion is roughly as useful to society as those who will doubtless spend time responding

And yet, you responded. Hmmm....

[Ancitter]

Texas as "one of the most conservative in the south"? I could not disagree any more at all. Are you kidding? As huge and increasingly diverse as Texas is, you still consider it more conservative than, say, Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Alabama? Mississippi? Even Tennessee?

With regards to the "poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio..." I hope you refer to social conservatism. These people are mostly minorities (black or Hispanic) who tend to hold strong beliefs on issues like gay marriage (they oppose) and abortion (Mexican Catholics= strongly oppose, and ditto black Baptists to a lesser degree). However, please look at a map of TX legislative districts, be they state or federal. You'll find these poor inner-city areas are basically dominated by Democrats, just like elsewhere in the country. On most other issues that don't involve morality, they agree with Dems.

Of course, the 'burbs are largely Republican, so they do hold conservative views on social issues as well as more free-market economic views.

1) Where on Earth did you find this information?
2) ?

[Ancitter]

ya I would argue Texas is one of the most conservative in the south...really outside of South Austin(contrary to popular belief, alot of Austin is VERY conservative) and the poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, I doubt you could find more conservative places

Really? What part exactly? I couldn't disagree with you more.

[bonnieblue]

Conservatism in Texas is rather unique for the south, owing to the state's strong oil economy and nature as a boom town. Lots of entrepreneurs moved to Texas these past fifty years and made big money while mostly ignoring religion, ethics, and politics and they'll throw their lot in with any party that lowers their taxes. Compared to Texas, the economies of most conservative states is extremely weak and culture is much more important to their brand of conservatism than Texas.

Since academia is more or less divorced from the industrial economy, the University is more or less separated from the central pillar of Texas conservatism.

Absolutely ridiculous. Texas is extremely culturally/socially conservative. Obviously, Austin is much less so.

ya I would argue Texas is one of the most conservative in the south...really outside of South Austin(contrary to popular belief, alot of Austin is VERY conservative) and the poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, I doubt you could find more conservative places

Texas as "one of the most conservative in the south"? I could not disagree any more at all. Are you kidding? As huge and increasingly diverse as Texas is, you still consider it more conservative than, say, Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Alabama? Mississippi? Even Tennessee?

With regards to the "poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio..." I hope you refer to social conservatism. These people are mostly minorities (black or Hispanic) who tend to hold strong beliefs on issues like gay marriage (they oppose) and abortion (Mexican Catholics= strongly oppose, and ditto black Baptists to a lesser degree). However, please look at a map of TX legislative districts, be they state or federal. You'll find these poor inner-city areas are basically dominated by Democrats, just like elsewhere in the country. On most other issues that don't involve morality, they agree with Dems.

Of course, the 'burbs are largely Republican, so they do hold conservative views on social issues as well as more free-market economic views.

Well Arkansas actually is the most Democratic of the Southern states, with Tennessee also being more on the moderate end. Of course MS, AL and SC are very conservative and I was putting TX with them, b/c no Dem has held a statewide office since Ann Richards in 98 I believe.

Ummm I don't really understand what you trying to say about the poor inner-city areas, but I was saying that they are hard core Democrats... The Texas Democratic party, with the exception of some of Travis county, is almost completely composed of minorities.

[art vandelay]

Absolutely ridiculous. Texas is extremely culturally/socially conservative. Obviously, Austin is much less so.

ya I would argue Texas is one of the most conservative in the south...really outside of South Austin(contrary to popular belief, alot of Austin is VERY conservative) and the poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, I doubt you could find more conservative places

Texas as "one of the most conservative in the south"? I could not disagree any more at all. Are you kidding? As huge and increasingly diverse as Texas is, you still consider it more conservative than, say, Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Alabama? Mississippi? Even Tennessee?

With regards to the "poor inner city areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio..." I hope you refer to social conservatism. These people are mostly minorities (black or Hispanic) who tend to hold strong beliefs on issues like gay marriage (they oppose) and abortion (Mexican Catholics= strongly oppose, and ditto black Baptists to a lesser degree). However, please look at a map of TX legislative districts, be they state or federal. You'll find these poor inner-city areas are basically dominated by Democrats, just like elsewhere in the country. On most other issues that don't involve morality, they agree with Dems.

Of course, the 'burbs are largely Republican, so they do hold conservative views on social issues as well as more free-market economic views.

Well Arkansas actually is the most Democratic of the Southern states, with Tennessee also being more on the moderate end. Of course MS, AL and SC are very conservative and I was putting TX with them, b/c no Dem has held a statewide office since Ann Richards in 98 I believe.

Ummm I don't really understand what you trying to say about the poor inner-city areas, but I was saying that they are hard core Democrats... The Texas Democratic party, with the exception of some of Travis county, is almost completely composed of minorities.

My objection was with your statement that Texas is the most "conservative" southern state. I know TN and AR are more Democratic than TX, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are less conservative than TX. I mean, look.... NC went blue this cycle, but AZ stayed red. Does that mean AZ is more conservative than NC? Certainly not.

[SoxyPirate]

My objection was with your statement that Texas is the most "conservative" southern state. I know TN and AR are more Democratic than TX, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are less conservative than TX. I mean, look.... NC went blue this cycle, but AZ stayed red. Does that mean AZ is more conservative than NC? Certainly not.

While it might not be for the reasons cited above, I do believe that NC is less conservative than Arizona. NC is surprisingly blue. (I'm a North Carolina resident, and it just makes me happy to say that;)

[bonnieblue]

No, I said Texas was one of the most conservative southern states....more so than TN and AR. I'm just getting this from personal experience, b/c I have lived in or I have family in almost all of these states and I have taken some Gov classes on Southern politics...

West Austin and the parts that feed into Austin High, Westlake and Anderson HS are very conservative.

[Ancitter]

No, I said Texas was one of the most conservative southern states....more so than TN and AR. I'm just getting this from personal experience, b/c I have lived in or I have family in almost all of these states and I have taken some Gov classes on Southern politics...

West Austin and the parts that feed into Austin High, Westlake and Anderson HS are very conservative.

Maybe you're right, but I don't know.
I had always believed most of these parts to be at least relatively liberal compared to the rest of the state.

To say that a lot of Austin is conservative just doesn't make sense to me. I've lived here all of my life and I've never seen any evidence of that.

[bonnieblue]

No, I said Texas was one of the most conservative southern states....more so than TN and AR. I'm just getting this from personal experience, b/c I have lived in or I have family in almost all of these states and I have taken some Gov classes on Southern politics...

West Austin and the parts that feed into Austin High, Westlake and Anderson HS are very conservative.

Maybe you're right, but I don't know.
I had always believed most of these parts to be at least relatively liberal compared to the rest of the state.

To say that a lot of Austin is conservative just doesn't make sense to me. I've lived here all of my life and I've never seen any evidence of that.

ya sorry, I just meant that alot of Austin isn't as liberal as most people think, but yeah some parts feel like San Francisco to me haha

[sbalive]

It's important to sort stuff out here. Arkansas and West Virginia are Democratic, but that does not correspond to being liberal - the Democratic Party just happens to be much better organized than the Republicans (though that's changing a little in AR).

I'm actually kind of interested in different ideological slants of law schools, though clearly no one on this thread knows anything about it
I'm amused that so many people seem to think Duke Law is conservative, for example, since its reputation is actually of being quite liberal.

If someone has a link to what others have evaluated, that would be interesting. My read is that Washington & Lee, Stanford, and George Mason are "conservative", though most law schools lean liberal anyway, so it's on the margins. Chicago and Harvard have large numbers of conservative faculty, but they're better described as balanced. Berkeley has a strong liberal tradition. Also I guess it'd be useful to look at both the disposition of faculties and students.

[paraducks]

UT is definitely not the second most conservative on this list. the faculty is very left-leaning with a pretty socially liberal student body and while texas is of course a red state, austin is certainly blue.

[green]

I'll bite. This is just based on what I have heard/ geographical and cultural reputation.

1. Berkeley
2. UCLA
3. USC
4. NYU
5. Georgetown
6. Boston
7. Stanford
8. Columbia
9. Yale
10. George Washington
11. Washington and Lee
12. Penn
13. Harvard
14. Virginia
15. Cornell
16. Minnesota
17. WUSTL
18. Emory
19. Michigan
20. Chicago
21. Northwestern
22. Vanderbilt
23. Duke
24. Texas
25. Notre Dame

Anyone who wants to disagree, go for it.

I know for a fact that Michigan should be much higher in this list. I went there for early undergrad and Ann Arbor in general is one of the most liberal towns around. The school has a hash bash every year on 4/20? I know of few student bodies more liberal than the one at U of M.

I've heard Michigan is more liberal than Virginia, but that's about all the info I can give.

[Mitchske]

UT is definitely not the second most conservative on this list. the faculty is very left-leaning with a pretty socially liberal student body and while texas is of course a red state, austin is certainly blue.

Eh, maybe we have different notions of conservatism, but UT in my mind is still conservative. I know we have a lot of liberal festivals, drag rats, etc which make UT appear liberal - and definitely our fair share of liberalism on campus, but Dallas and Houston are still major feeders of UT-Austin. Austin is slowly losing its culture and frankly, we're not doing a good job of keeping Austin weird. Since I moved downtown, I'm surrounded by newly built condos.

Dallas + Houston kids from money + top 10% rule not only dumbs down UT, but it brings tons of conservatives on campus.

I had government classes last semester where I expected to be in the majority when I raise my hand proclaiming my support for Obama only realizing that the majority of students hadn't made up their mind or were voting for that old man Obama ran against.

[steindle]

I had government classes last semester where I expected to be in the majority when I raise my hand proclaiming my support for Obama only realizing that the majority of students hadn't made up their mind or were voting for that old man Obama ran against.

What was that old man's name again? Goldwater? Ehhh, whatever it was, it's lost to history.

In any case, this report is a little disappointing. I'm always told by liberals that Austin is an oasis of sanity in a state of madness!

[Paul Ramone]

I don't know if WUSTL's law school is any less/more liberal than the undergrads, but we (the undergrads) were incredibly liberal but not politically active.

[txag_09]

In response to the conservatism in Texas question, I point you to the '08 election results. All major urban areas went blue, along with some counties in the Valley. The rural population (pretty much the rest of the state) went pretty heavily conservative. I was one of only 700 people in my county of 17,000 that voted Democratic.

Then again, I grew up in a hick-ass town where liberalism was treated as a mental disorder. This hick-ass town makes up the majority of the county's population. Take my case example for what it is.

And yes, there are conservative parts of Austin. I got multiple roommates, friends, and family members that have collectively lived there for quite some time. It is a bit more liberal than other cities its size, but it is not a bastion of blue like some make it out to be...well, with the exception for that hive of communist hippy activity known as "tu"!

(j/k t-sips...I'm just playin')

[interestedbyestander]

I'll bite. This is just based on what I have heard/ geographical and cultural reputation.

1. Berkeley
2. UCLA
3. USC
4. NYU
5. Georgetown
6. Boston
7. Stanford
8. Columbia
9. Yale
10. George Washington
11. Washington and Lee
12. Penn
13. Harvard
14. Virginia
15. Cornell
16. Minnesota
17. WUSTL
18. Emory
19. Michigan
20. Chicago
21. Northwestern
22. Vanderbilt
23. Duke
24. Texas
25. Notre Dame

Anyone who wants to disagree, go for it.

This is nothing like Cooley's list ... I mean Yale is even shown here.

[Lawlcat]

It seems like the OP largely just said "California --> LIBERAL"

As a native Californian, I really think the state gets stereotyped a lot. Sure, just about every state does, but the political stereotype of California is particularly wacky. It's true that Berkeley is pretty liberal still, although the picture is more complicated than that...and honestly, my mental image of UC Berkeley is definitely not wacky hippy school. Actually, my mental image of UC Berkeley is hard-nosed workaholic type A sorts. (Not necessarily a feature of either liberalism or conservatism, but I think more often attributed to conservative types.)

Anyway, in California, I know a ton of small-businessy Republican types. It's an extraordinarily diverse state, and trying to paint it all any one color is going to result in an inaccurate portrayal. I think the problem mostly stems from California being the conservative's version of LiberalLand, much like Texas often ends up the liberal's version of ConservativeLand.