As first studied by Theodore Newcomb in 1943 at the Bennington College study, a liberal shift is when college students, or any individual who is no longer heavily under their parent's influence, shifts from conservative political views to liberal views. I truly believe at least 90% of Southwestern experienced a liberal shift to some degree or another. I definitely did, but my experience wasn't nearly as notable as some of my other friends, mostly due to the fact that I already was raised in a liberal household where we were taught to listen to both sides of the debate and make a decision. I did have one friend though, who shifted so vastly it legitimately made him a better person. This guy came from the most conservative background I had ever heard of. He still believed women should raise their children and not work, and he found homosexuality to be the most horrendous of sins. We used to stay up in the fishbowl through the night talking about his views on religion, politics, and the social world. There was no getting through to this guy. Two years later, he joined the Kappa Alpha fraternity, finally had a sip of alcohol, and started loosening up. The KAs are some of the most generous and open-minded guys on campus (despite what some people might say about them). The year after our conservative friend joined the fraternity, started drinking, and allowed others to influence his opinions, when a potential homosexual male rushed KA, he fought (in private, and I shouldn't really know this) for his entry into the fraternity. So, this guy went from hating gay people, no exaggeration, to accepting them and fighting for their rights. I was so crazy proud of this guy. We haven't spoken in quite awhile, simply because we have opposing schedules, but I've heard he's loosened up on his insane ideals governing women in the workplace and leans more liberally in politics now. I heard it from the beginning of my career at Southwestern; if you aren't liberal when you walk through the doors, you will be when you walk out.
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Newcomb, T. (1943). Personality and social change: Attitude
formation in a student community. New York: Dryden.
I have no clue who that person is (or maybe I do) but he's awesome. I don't recall reading any literature to support this, but I'm pretty sure the more conservative they are before they go to college, the more left wing they are when they step out.
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