Study shows liberalism rising among freshman

LOS ANGELES (U-WIRE)— The age of mass anti-war protests and bra-burning demonstrations may be over, but freshman liberalism is at its all-time high in three decades, according to the fall 2001 freshman survey report released Monday.

The survey, which includes responses from 411,970 entering freshmen from 704 colleges and universities, found that 29.9 percent of college freshmen label themselves "liberal" or "far left" while 20.7 percent of students consider themselves "conservative" or "far right."

The percentages of "liberals" on campus are substantially lower than the 40.9 percent of students who viewed themselves as liberals in 1971, according to the survey released by the Higher Education Research Institute at University of California-Los Angeles' Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and the American Council on Education.

Education professor and founding director of the survey, Alexander Astin, said the influx of corruption in contemporary politics connects students today with those from the '70s and has contributed to liberal tendencies.

"Politics are so dismal, and students are growing very cynical," Astin said.

Though students do not identify themselves as "liberals" as much as they did since 1971, Astin said, their views on controversial issues are far more to the left than before.

"The far right has successfully attacked the word 'liberal,'" Astin said, pointing to the 1988 election where Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis did not defend himself when his opponent, Republican candidate George Bush Sr., called him a liberal.

"The word fell out of favor and most young people are less likely to use it," Astin said.

—Daily Bruin

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