Conservative Colleges: Cream of the Crop

Conservative Colleges: Cream of the Crop
By Christopher Flickinger
Human Events
August 25, 2005

A top-notch college education no longer means four years of liberal indoctrination. According to the experts, schools that promote conservative values are among the nation’s best.

The Princeton Review and US News and World Report released their lists of the best colleges for 2006, and once again, institutions that upheld conservative principles were recognized for their excellence in education.

The Princeton Review’s list included 20 schools where students who were “most nostalgic for Ronald Reagan” could be found. Ranked at the top was Hillsdale College in Michigan followed by Grove City College in Pennsylvania and Brigham Young University in Utah. Other schools that made the list included the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, Texas A & M – College Station, Baylor University, Southern Methodist University and Clemson University.

US News and World Report’s list recognized many of the same schools, but it included two other noted conservative institutions – Calvin College in Michigan and Liberty University in Virginia – as centers for exceptional learning.

Meanwhile, the growing popularity and success of conservative colleges across America is troubling for the political left. They believe college is a time and place where liberalism thrives and conservatism dies.

It is that very idea which is now bringing forth a renewal of conservative values. Liberal pervasiveness throughout higher education is, in deed, the direct cause of this conservative revolution. It is a rebellion against the liberal establishment that currently permeates within the halls of academia.

In an interview with Human Events, Dr. Richard Jewell, president of Grove City College (Rank #2: “Students most nostalgic for Ronald Reagan,” The Princeton Review; Rank #3: “Comprehensive Colleges – Bachelor’s (North),” US News and World Report) says the culture in higher education has turned so secular that more and more students are looking for the experience that his school has to offer. “The two tenets that this school is most about are faith and freedom. Now, there are a lot of schools that are about faith, but the freedom component is a component related to patriotism and related to the basic Constitutional beliefs of self-government, limited government. …Some folks will criticize Grove City College as being a bastion of Conservative thought, and I’ll always come back and say, ‘Well good golly, we’ve been this way for 130 years, thank you very much,’” says President Jewell.

Nearly 80% of those students who attend Grove City College graduate within five years. There’s very little, if any, crime on campus. The Greek system is local, not national. Tenure is not offered and unions are not permitted. The student/teacher ratio is around 19:1. Every student gets a Compaq computer and printer which they get to keep upon graduating. And, the entire year of schooling – room, board and tuition – at this private, conservative school costs less than $16,000. Not only are college review panels impressed with Grove City College, so too are employers. Corporate visitations to the school are at an all time high.

When asked what the future holds for Grove City College, President Jewell remarked, “We’ll let others decide that. …We will stand on the principals unapologetically that we have for 130 years and will continue to espouse. We are who we are.”

And that is what makes Grove City College, and other conservative schools like it, so successful. They are committed to teaching the principles and values cherished by our founding fathers. They are not ashamed of their beliefs. They are not afraid of criticism. They are not going to be deterred from their missions. And, by all means, they are not going to let liberals monopolize higher education.