Some commentators seem to have misinterpreted my rather clear (I think) post below as suggesting that I was looking for suggestions of colleges where conservatives and libertarians find themselves immune from criticism. Nothing of the sort; I said “where students and faculty will generally treat them respectfully,” and that’s what I meant. For example, I would consider the following actions disrepectful, or worse:
(1) receiving death threats because someone was offended by what you wrote for the school paper
(2) having someone come up to your girlfriend, while your standing right next to her, and asking, “are you his girlfriend?” and when she says, “yes,” responding, “do you realize he’s a Republican?”
(3) having the Administration refuse to abide by its own rules and regulations when conservative or libertarian students engage in activities they find offensive or merely annoying (e.g., throwing out the campus conservative magazine so students visiting campus on prospective students’ weekend won’t see them)
I witnessed all of these events, and more, at Brandeis as an undergrad. And I still enjoyed Brandeis, and I’m certainly not asking anyone to feel sorry for me, but if you would ask me if I would rather have attended somewhere with that sort of environment, or an environment in which I was treated with respect, the answer is obvious. Various 17 year-olds and their parents feel the same way, which is why I get asked the question. Personally, I didn’t know any better when I was 17, wrongly assuming that
since I was going to a “liberal” environment, that meant it would be a tolerant environment.
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