
Are frat boys the new conservatives?
National Review asks the wrong question about Greek life
By Alex HalperinTopics: JOhns Hopkins, Fraternity life, Education, fundraising, Michael Bloomberg, Conservatism, National Review, David Horowitz, Life News, News, Politics News
It’s long been a conservative truism that universities are enemy territory, stacked as they are with sandal wearing humanities professors and scientists whose research depends on empirical reality. But the ivory tower has probably never been as liberal as the right wants to believe: 51% of college graduates and 42% of “postgraduates” voted for Mitt Romney.
Even so, the academy’s supposedly implacable hostility to conservatives has been a career boosting foil for rightists from William F. Buckley to David Horowitz. But writing in Buckley’s National Review this weekend, Betsy Woodruff sees an emerging trend that could help level politics in the quad: Frat boys!
Using “quantitative analysis” which sounds suspiciously like a liberal plot, University of Iowa researchers found, “that on average, fraternity and sorority members enter college with more conservative political views than their peers. And while their peers became more liberal over four years of college, Greeks remained more conservative.”
Can the right going to channel this mysterious underground movement? Even Woodruff seems dubious. But for the time being she seems happy to seek common ground where she can find it. Madison Wickham, a founder of the website TotalFratMove.com said:
Merchandise pitched to conservatives — such as shirts that say “Mitt’s the Tits” and “Back to Back World War Champs” — sells briskly, suggesting that the Greek system contains a strong contingent of young people who lean unabashedly right. Like most members of their cohort, they tend to be socially liberal. But Wickham says Greeks are more likely to have an affinity for conservatism than most young voters.
“It’s become so generic and typical for college students to be liberal,” he says, that the definition of “cool” has almost reversed. “It’s cool to be conservative because everybody’s liberal.”
And 2002 Dartmouth grad Christopher Bowen tells her that the “expansion of petty bureaucracy brought out some of his brothers’ libertarian ‘don’t tread on me’ impulses, as he calls them.”
Hmmmm. Even Woodruff concedes what anyone who has ever been to a frat party already knows, that frat boy conservatism tilts more to the socially-liberal fiscally conservative variety. But at least true conservatives and frat boys can commiserate about bureaucrats and reporters:
Several students say a challenge for the Greek system is negative press from predominantly liberal campus newspapers. Christopher Warren, who graduated from the University of Georgia in 2012, said his fraternity consistently struggled with unfair coverage.
“The real thing we faced, even more than the bureaucracy of the university, was the on-campus media,” he says. “It was something we were constantly combating, having negative stories surrounding our fraternity or other fraternities on campus being the highlight in the school newspaper.”
Woodruff sees hope in frat boys’ interest in “professional degrees such as finance, law, medicine, and economics — instead of, say, women’s studies” but her article lacks a basic understanding of collegiate economics. Universities’ future health and prestige depends on donations from wealthy alumni. Schools have no interest in victimizing those privileged and practical Greeks who are the base of their future fundraising.
Today, for example, Johns Hopkins grad and Phi Kappa Psi brother Michael Bloomberg donated $350 million to his alma matter, pushing his total lifetime contributions to the school to $1.1 billion. The New York City mayor sounds a lot like one of those middle of the road socially liberal/fiscally conservative types. Is his donation going to make frat boys feel any less welcome on any campus?
Alex Halperin is news editor at Salon. You can follow him on Twitter @alexhalperin. More Alex Halperin.
You Might Also Like
More Related Stories
-
John Horne Burns: The writer Hemingway and Vidal envied
-
NSA spying kills my faith in America
-
Five easy steps for becoming a rape apologist
-
How Obamacare shortchanges low-wage workers
-
Texas councilwoman outraged over billboard featuring gay couple
-
Guys worry about sex on the first date too
-
Miss Utah gives wonderfully succinct answer to question about women and work
-
GOP lawmaker: Extreme abortion ban justified because of masturbating fetuses
-
Samantha Bee faces down the gay lobby
-
What "The Bling Ring" gets wrong about Valley girls
-
Pentagon to begin training women for elite combat roles by 2015
-
From "Bling Ring" to Oprah, "The Secret" lives on
-
I'm still angry about the affair
-
Looking to the mother I barely knew
-
Chicago firefighters charged with attempted rape of an unconscious woman
-
No one understands how hard it is to be Glenn Beck, says Glenn Beck
-
Five major takeaways from Edward Snowden Q&A
-
Bloomberg's Siri joke slights female engineers
-
Women make up 50 percent of NASA's incoming team of astronauts
-
Why didn't anyone help?
-
How our brains separate empathy from disgust
Featured Slide Shows
Gripping photos: The people of the Turkey protests (slideshow)
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.
-
In Gezi Park since March 31st, this protester, originally caught off-guard by the Government’s teargas and water cannons, went out and bought a Russian army mask from WWII, preparing for what was to come.
-
This rambunctious boy seems to be enjoying the chaos. After taking this picture he threw a stone at the already destroyed building in the background.
-
Forming a line, the police face off directly with protesters in Taksim Square. After a while, they retreated and there was a general cheer – a back-and-forth dance that has been common since the beginning of this protest.
-
An elderly woman in Gezi Park reads the news. The tent community occupying the park was violently destroyed on June 16th.
-
Many different groups had set up booths to promote their cause in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Standing in front of one, this man waves his flag while posing with conviction.
-
Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.
-
People capitalize on the uprising -- selling flags, beer, gas masks, sky lanterns and spray paint to name just a few of the popular items.
-
On Monday morning, June 11, the police execute a strong offensive. Many plain-clothed police officers, like the ones seen here, clash with protesters in the side streets away from the main stand-off in Taksim.
-
The authorities seem to be most aggressive in the night, pushing protesters away from the square and park. After being teargassed this young woman catches her breath with other protesters on Siraselviler Street.
-
Recent Slide Shows
-
Gripping photos: The people of the Turkey protests (slideshow)
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Photos: Turmoil and tear gas in Instanbul's Gezi Park - Slideshow
-
10 summer food festivals worth the pit stop
-
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
The week in 10 pics
-
10 summer food festivals worth the pit stop
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
9 amazing drive-in movie theaters still standing
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Netflix's April Fools' Day categories
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
Related Videos
More Related Stories
-
John Horne Burns: The writer Hemingway and Vidal envied
-
NSA spying kills my faith in America
-
Five easy steps for becoming a rape apologist
-
How Obamacare shortchanges low-wage workers
-
Texas councilwoman outraged over billboard featuring gay couple
-
Guys worry about sex on the first date too
-
Miss Utah gives wonderfully succinct answer to question about women and work
-
GOP lawmaker: Extreme abortion ban justified because of masturbating fetuses
-
Samantha Bee faces down the gay lobby
-
What "The Bling Ring" gets wrong about Valley girls
-
Pentagon to begin training women for elite combat roles by 2015
-
From "Bling Ring" to Oprah, "The Secret" lives on
-
I'm still angry about the affair
-
Looking to the mother I barely knew
-
Chicago firefighters charged with attempted rape of an unconscious woman
-
No one understands how hard it is to be Glenn Beck, says Glenn Beck
-
Five major takeaways from Edward Snowden Q&A
-
Bloomberg's Siri joke slights female engineers
-
Women make up 50 percent of NASA's incoming team of astronauts
-
Why didn't anyone help?
-
How our brains separate empathy from disgust
Most Read
-
Why Sarah Palin actually matters again Joan Walsh
-
Lynda Obst: Hollywood's completely broken Lynda Obst
-
GOP plan to appeal to millennials: "Make abortion funny" Alex Seitz-Wald
-
To my daughter on Father's Day: Sorry I used to be a sexist Mo Elleithee
-
Why didn't anyone help? Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
The best of Tumblr porn Tracy Clark-Flory
-
Study: Reading novels makes us better thinkers Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard
-
Rahm Emanuel is losing control of his city Mark Guarino
-
Jon Stewart who?: John Oliver's "Daily Show" is almost too good Willa Paskin
-
The most popular Tumblr porn Tracy Clark-Flory

Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

2777 points2778 points2779 points | 341 comments

183 points184 points185 points | 5 comments
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
- Marc F. Bernstein: The Federal Government's Role in Education: School Vouchers?
-
Man Faces Felony Charge For Allegedly Sending Death Threat To Cruz -
Bobby Jindal Has Had It With All The Self-Reflection That He Demanded - Blake Fleetwood: 'Stupid' Spending on the Military and Health Care Is Leading to National Suicide
- Earl Ofari Hutchinson: The FBI Walks a Perilous Line Between Surveillance and Outright Spying
-
Diane Gilman: Baby Boomers: A New Life-Construct -- From "Invisible to Invincible!" -
Susan Gregory Thomas: Why Divorced Boomer Moms Don't Deserve The Bad Rap -
British Nanny Offered An Annual Salary Of $200,000 -
Arianna Huffington: What I Did (and Didn't Do) On My Summer Vacation -
Vivian Diller, Ph.D.: Maybe Happiness Begins At 50
-
Exclusive: Confidential Administration Document Details Plan To Sell Obamacare Through Social Media -
37 Photos Of Presidents Bro-ing Out - Your Treasury Secretary's Signature No Longer Looks Like A Cupcake
- Michele Bachmann Would Like To Know If The NSA Targets The President's Political Enemies
-
Officials: NSA Spying Foiled 50 Terror Plots
- Sao Paulo takes to the streets to protest more than a fare hike
- Keith Alexander, NSA head, testifies at House surveillance hearing (LIVE VIDEO)
- G8 leaders agree to clamp down on money laundering and tax evasion
- Laser reveals hidden network of ancient Cambodian city
- Social media round-up: Brazil protests grow in number and meaning
- How immigration reform could save taxpayers nearly $1 trillion
- Is the debate over sexual abuse in the military really a 'war on men'?
- Former employees say Bank of America lied to a lot of homeowners
- The daily gossip: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have allegedly chosen a baby name, and more
- Do artificial fossil fuels have a future?






You Will Never Be Able To Look At Judi Dench The Same Way Again

Comments
33 Comments