More college freshmen identify themselves as politically liberal, according to the results of UCLA’s annual survey of the nation’s students entering undergraduate classes.
The fall 2001 survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies finds that 29.9 percent of students entering four-year colleges and universities characterize their political views as “liberal” or “far left,” the highest percentage in two decades, and substantially higher than the 20.7 percent who consider themselves “conservative” or “far right.” The overall percentage of today’s “liberal” freshmen increased from 27.7 percent last year and 21.0 percent in 1981, but is still lower than the all-time high of 40.9 percent recorded in 1971. Most students labeled themselves “middle of the road” (49.5 percent, down from 51.9 percent last year).
“Although students are less likely to identify themselves as ‘liberal’ than they were in the early 1970s, the popularity of the liberal label has increased for five consecutive years and is at its highest point since 1975,” said Linda Sax, UCLA education professor and director of the survey.
The tendency toward liberalism among the 2001 freshmen is evident in their changing attitudes about a wide range of social and political issues, including the death penalty, drug testing and gay rights.
A record-high 57.9 percent of this year’s freshmen believe that same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status (compared to 56 percent last year and 50.9 percent in 1997). Only one-fourth (24.9 percent) of entering students advocate laws prohibiting homosexual relationships, compared to 27.2 percent last year. This is a significant decline from the record high of half (50.4 percent) of students who agreed with the statement in 1987, and a record low since the question was first asked in 1976.
Additionally, today’s freshmen express more liberal views about drug legalization and testing. More than one-third (36.5 percent) agree that marijuana should be legalized, an increase from last year’s 34.2 percent and the highest rating since 1980. While 75 percent of today’s freshmen agree that employers should be allowed to require drug testing of employees or job applicants, support for testing is down slightly from last year (76.5 percent) and is lower than any year since the question entered the survey in 1988.
Over the last two decades, there also has been a steady increase in the percentage of freshmen who believe that the death penalty should be abolished. This year, 32.2 percent of incoming college students advocate ending capital punishment, an increase from 31.2 percent last year and the highest score since 1980.
“In short,” said Alexander W. Astin, education professor and founding director of the survey, “What we have been seeing in the past few years is a broad-based trend toward greater liberalism on practically every attitudinal question in the survey.”
Now in its 36th year, the UCLA survey is the nation’s longest-standing and most comprehensive assessment of student attitudes and plans. Conducted in association with the American Council on Education, the survey serves as a resource for higher education researchers throughout the world.
The fall 2001 survey included 411,970 entering freshmen at 704 of the nation’s higher education institutions. Data culled from 281,064 of those students at 421 baccalaureate institutions have been statistically adjusted to be representative of the 1.2 million freshmen entering four-year colleges and universities as first-time, full-time students last fall.
The vast majority of these respondents (97.5 percent) completed the survey before Sept. 11. Therefore, changes between 2000 and 2001 do not reflect students’ reactions to those events.
Renewed interest in politics and activism
Following long-term declines in students’ attention to politics, the 2001 survey shows signs of renewed political interest and activism. The percentage of students reporting that they frequently discussed politics in the past year rose sharply from a record-low 16.4 percent last year to 20.9 percent in 2001. This represents the largest one-year increase since the 1992 presidential election year. The percentage of students who feel that it is essential for them to keep up to date with political events also rose from last year’s record low of 28.1 percent to 31.4 percent in 2001, marking the largest one-year increase since the 1972 presidential election year.
“It is unclear whether gains in political interest signal a reversal of the long-term trend toward political disengagement,” Sax said. “These one-year changes likely reflect students’ reaction to the contested 2000 presidential election and its historic aftermath.”
Additionally, questions related to activism and volunteerism reflect continued growth. Participation in organized demonstrations during the past year reached an all-time high of 47.5 percent in 2001, compared to 45.4 percent last year and a low of 15.8 percent when the survey was initiated in 1966. The 2001 survey also marks a record-high level of volunteerism, with 82.6 percent of incoming freshmen reporting frequent or occasional volunteer work, compared to 81 percent last year and a low of 66 percent in 1989. Contributing in part to this rise is the requirement of community service for graduation from many high schools, which has increased from 23.2 to 28.2 percent since the item was first asked in 1998.
Interracial interaction hits record high
Interracial interaction among freshmen reached a record high, with 70 percent of this year’s entering college students reporting that they have socialized with someone of another ethnic group in the past year, compared to 67.6 percent of last year’s freshmen. The 2001 figure represents nearly a 12 percent increase from 1992, when the question was first introduced. Women remain more likely than men to socialize with people from a racial or ethnic background different from their own (71.9 percent among women versus 67.6 percent among men).
Fewer freshmen agree that racial discrimination is no longer a major problem in America (19.5 percent this year, with a rating of 20.5 percent last year and a high of 21.4 percent agreement in 1999). Enhanced racial awareness is also reflected in renewed growth in the percentage of entering college students who are committed to helping promote racial understanding (31.5 percent this year versus 30.8 percent last year). This figure, however, remains substantially below the high of 46.4 percent reached in 1992.
Additionally, fewer freshmen today agree that affirmative action in college admissions should be abolished (49 percent this year versus 49.9 percent last year). This marks the third straight decline in opposition to affirmative action, reaching its lowest level in the six years since this question was introduced.
“What seems to be happening,” Astin said, “is that as students of different races have more contact with each other, their concern about racism and their commitment to racial equity grow stronger.”
Sense of health and wellness hits record low
In a continuing trend, self-ratings in physical and emotional health hit record lows in 2001. The percentage of freshmen who rate their physical health above average or in the highest 10 percent compared to others their age reached an all-time low of 55.2 percent, dropping from last year’s 56.4 percent and the high of 64.3 percent in 1986. Student’s self-rated emotional health also hit a record low, with 53.4 percent of freshmen considering their emotional health as above average or in the highest 10 percent, dropping from 53.8 percent in 2000 and 63.6 percent when the question was first included in the survey in 1985. The percentage of freshmen who believe that there is a very good chance they will seek personal counseling while attending college reached a 28-year high at 6.6 percent, comparing to last year’s 6.4 percent and only 3.5 percent in 1989.
“Remember that these downward trends in psychological health occurred before Sept. 11,” Sax said. “As a result, we suspect that actual levels of emotional well-being among this year’s freshmen are probably lower than those reported here.”
Female freshmen rate their sense of health and wellness at a lower level than men do, with two-thirds of men (66.8 percent) rating their physical health as above average or in the highest 10 percent, compared to less than half of women (45.8 percent). The gender gap may relate to gender differences in time spent on physical activities. More than half of men (58.9 percent) report exercising or playing sports at least six hours per week, compared to 43.2 percent of women.
Additionally, fewer women than men rate themselves highly on emotional health (47.7 percent of women, compared to 60.4 percent of men). Women are also twice as likely as men are to report feeling frequently overwhelmed by the things they have to do (36.6 percent among women, compared to 17.4 percent among men).
Record number report no religious preference
When asked to indicate their current religious preference, an all-time high of 15.8 percent of students reported none, compared to 14.9 percent last year and 6.6 percent in 1966. The growth in students with no religious preference parallels the growth in the percentage of students who report no religious preference for at least one parent. A record high of 12.4 percent of freshmen describe their fathers as having no religious preference, and a record high of 7.8 percent report no religious preference for their mothers.
Additionally, there is a decline in the percentage of students who pray or meditate at least once a week (from 67.7 percent in 2000 to 65.7 percent in 2001). A new survey question asked students to rate their level of “religiousness” as compared to the average person their age, with results of 31.7 percent rating themselves above average or in the highest 10 percent. This represents the second-lowest figure among all 21 self-rating measures. Record levels of academic disengagement, record high grades
Today’s college freshmen continue to be academically disengaged. An all-time record high 41.1 percent of students report feeling frequently bored in class during their senior year in high school, up from last year (39.7 percent) and a low of 29.3 percent in 1985. Freshmen also are continuing the trend of tardiness with a record high of 65.1 percent of students who came late to class frequently or occasionally during the last year, compared to 64.5 percent last year and a low of 48.2 percent in 1966. The number of students who overslept and missed a class or an appointment as high school seniors also increased from 35.3 percent last year to 35.6 percent in 2001, nearly doubling the rate of 19.6 percent reported in 1968.
The survey also finds that students spent less time studying and doing homework, with only 34.9 percent of entering students reporting studying or working on assignments for six or more hours per week in the past year. This marks the lowest figure since this question was first asked in 1987, when 47 percent reported studying six or more hours weekly.
Although students are spending less time studying, their high school grades continue to soar with 44.1 percent of freshmen report earning “A” averages in high school, compared to 42.9 percent last year, and a low of 17.6 percent in 1968.
“The combination of academic disengagement and record grade inflation,” Astin said, “poses a real challenge for our higher education system, since students are entering college with less inclination to study but with higher academic expectations than ever.”
### UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute has conducted the nationwide freshman survey since 1973. Since the survey’s inception in 1966, more than 10 million students at more than 1,500 institutions have participated.
Copies of the 36th annual report, titled, “The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 2001” (Sax, L.J., Lindholm, J. A., Astin, A.W., Korn, W.S. and Mahoney, K.M., 2001), are available to members of the public for $25 (prepaid plus $4.79 for the first book and 40 cents for each additional book for shipping) from the Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, 3005 Moore Hall, Box 951521, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521.
Note to Editors: To reach the Higher Education Research Institute directly, call (310) 825-1925. For more information related to the American Council on Education, an important associate in the preparation of this survey, call Tim McDonough, (202) 939-9365. For a summary of the survey, visit www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html and click on “Recent Findings.”
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