Would a liberal be comfortable in Georgia Tech?

[The Backlash Cometh]

I realize that when I come to DU, many times I do so to vent and my posts might be tinged with exaggeration. But sometimes I really do have to ask a really stoopid question and I have no excuse. After reading about that student who is suing Georgia Tech in order to be intolerant to gays, I have to wonder if any liberal or any Democrat for that matter, would be comfortable in Georgia Tech? Is it a coincidence that this is happening on that campus? What kind of campus life can one expect to find there? It's a public school, so shouldn't there be a diverse group of people?

Article about the lawsuit:

http://www.constitutioncenter.org/education/TeachingwithCurrentEvents/ConstitutionNewswire/16031.shtml

Article about explosives found on campus:

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=70306

[CottonBear]

1. I have a good friend who goes to school there.

It is located in the big, blue city of Atlanta. There are both liberals and conservatives among many other political persuasions there. It is a fine shchool.

edit: The campus student body is diverse. My friend is a female engineering student who speaks three langauges and is a native of Bosnia.

[Mist]

2. I used to live in Atlanta, and knew several people who went to GA Tech

Some of the women said it wasn't as welcoming to women in hard science and engineering as it could have been (they attended GA Tech in the late 70's and early 80's, so that may have changed). On the other hand, it's about as diverse as most large universities. I think the woman (Ruth Malhotra?) who claimed "freedom of speech" to spew her "Christian" hatred probably felt encouraged by the fact that GA is overall a red state, and VERY fundie/evangelical outside of Atlanta.

[CottonBear]

3. If you read that article even her fellow colleg Repub thinks Ruth's

lawsuit is stupid and unwarranted.

I know several tech grads and I know that the campus is quite diverse. There are many more women.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. I've encountered this before. Suing in the courts in order to change

the laws. Only it involved a property rights developer/lawyer. He specifically looked for wetland issues with small homeowners and wanted to take their cases to court for free with the hope to use their successful awards as precedent to develop larger tracts of land.

So, it doesn't have to be popular to still cause problems for us down the road.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. I wish there was some way to find out of the breakdown of reds and blues

on campus.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[MsTryska]

4. Of the schools in Georgia, I'd say GTECH is one of the more

diverse, and accomodating schools here.

It's an urban school, and it's a technical, so it has a large international population.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Good to hear.

[DemoTex]

9. I graduated from Georgia Tech. Dr. D. did too (PhD).

When we were there, the student body was about 20% liberal, 20% conservative, and 60% apathetic. Most of our friends were very serious graduate students and most fell in that 20% liberal group. We had a blast. We worked like hell all week, and then met our friends at the very liberal Manuel's Tavern (run by legendary Democrat Manuel Maloof and scene of several DU get-togethers in recent years) on Friday nights. We would study in a fog on Saturday and often go to a Georgia Tech friend's house for a party Saturday night.

Many of our friends from Tech, Agnes Scott, and Emory were gay. I doubt that has changed any. Georgia Tech's diversity was what set it apart relative to many other schools in the south in the 60s and 70s. The Auburns, U of Ga's, and FSUs have become much more diverse than they were back then.

I think the lawsuit is just so much noise. The national "Christian" groups challenging "politically correct" tolerance policies, like those at Georgia Tech, are doing so nationwide, too. If Georgia Tech loses, and I doubt it will, other universities -- especially some of the Northern liberal institutions -- will move into the "Christian's" cross-hairs.


Famous DUers with the great Mike Malloy at Manuel's Tavern

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Manuel's Tavern still hopping?

What other place is a good stop to meet liberals?

[DemoTex]

11. Other places in ATL?

I'll have to defer to the locals on that. It has been over 25 years since we lived in Atlanta. Actually, I was surprised to learn that Manual's is still around. Manual Maloof bought Harry's Delicatessen in 1956 and changed the name to Manual's. So the Godfather of the Georgia Democratic party has been in business for 50 years!

[RubyDuby in GA]

22. Actually, Manual Maloof died in 2004, but his place is still open

It is still very much the place where liberals of Atlanta get together.

[BooScout]

12. Anywhere in Decatur or Midtown....

Both areas are Liberal welcoming and gay friendly.

[CottonBear]

21. We met at the Graveyard for our most recent DU meetup in Atlanta.

Kathy Malloy chose the location and it was great! See the Georgia forum for pictures of all of us GA DUers there!

[Terran1212]

13. My sister went there

It's pretty close to the military/police/tech type sector of people (but then outside of NYU and Berkeley, how many colleges aren't these days?), and heck that's I think where the department of homeland security recruited her (the CIA recruited her there but she didn't get admitted).

But it's in pretty diverse atlanta and is way better than the suburbs of georgia where I live.

[Jose Diablo]

14. Are you kidding? Tech is way cool

You'll love it and the nite life in ATL, well, I don't want to ruin it for you by talking. I will say this, ATL is a big party town and has it all, anything you can imagine, it's here. If you have an opportunity to go to tech, I'd take it if I were you.

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Thanks, Jose.

[Charlie Brown]

15. Tech is in Downtown Atlanta

you have nothing to worry about as far as its accomodations for diversity go.

Indeed, the lawsuit that was filed was because of a program started by Tech to guarantee the safety and respect for LGBT students on campus.

Some people (conservatives) are just jerks.

[Jason9612]

16. I don't have to worry about that, I go to an extremely liberal school...

...UCONN!

[Acebass]

17. I'm just the kind of person to make myself comfortable...

I'm sure they wouldn't be comfortable with me...:evilgrin:

[stanwyck]

18. One of my daughter's roommates is at Tech

(my daughter is quite the liberal activist. She graduated from Berry and now lives in Decatur with 3 roommates.) One is at Tech and is very liberal - as are his friends. I've met lots of liberal Tech students.
And Emory is more liberal than conservative.
You'll find lots of libs around Atlanta. More intown - Decatur and Midtown areas. Less so in the 'burbs.
Although my area near Northlake mall is becoming less red. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of Kerry/Edwards signs last fall.
(I'm in Cynthia McKinney's district).

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. Thanks everyone for responding!

It's reassuring.

[Blue_Tires]

23. it all depends

but from my experience, (living in Atlanta, working at GT for 3 years), I would say that a liberal would not necessarily feel unwanted, but they would not be welcomed with open arms (especially in the non-liberal arts majors)