Campus Reform: Colgate University

This campus profile is inspired by CampusReform.org's guide to the nation's top 100 colleges as ranked by US News & World Report. Each profile examines campus political climate and offers items of interest to conservative students, parents, and alumni. Click here to see the full list of college profiles.

Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York.  It was founded in 1819 and has an enrollment of 2,825 people.

Campus Life

There are six politically active groups on campus. 

The one conservative group is the College Republicans.

The five liberal groups are The Advocates (a pro-gay group), Amnesty International, the College Democrats, Democracy Matters (a progressive organization), and Lambda.

In 2005, the school introduced the Residential Plan, which forced all Greek organizations to sell their houses to the college.  Fraternity members and students opposed to the plan rallied that spring and were addressed by staff from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) as well as David Horowitz.  Some Greek groups also sued the school, but were unable to prevent their houses from being taken over by the administration.  The holdout fraternity, DKE, was derecognized by the administration.

Faculty

According to Fundrace.org, the faculty at Colgate University show a liberal bias in their campaign contributions.  In 2008, 90% of all donations went to the Democratic Party.  In 2010, 100% of these contributions went to the Democratic Party. 

Well known faculty at Colgate University include Anthony Aveni and Peter Balakian. 

University Policy

The school is given a “red” rating by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, indicating that the school has serious restrictions on free speech and freedom of assembly.  However, there are no recent actions challenging the school’s policies.