Back in 2024, The Daily Pennsylvanian polled Penn students and found that nearly 80% of them were planning to vote for then-Vice President Kamala Harris to be the United States’ next president. That striking number paints an all too familiar picture. At Penn, we’re told that most everyone is devoutly liberal and that our University constantly embraces progressivism. That picture, however, does not reflect the reality of our much more ideologically diverse campus.
Before college, I thought of Penn, and all of the United States’ most prestigious universities, as consistently left-leaning spaces. Recent political backlash hints at that same conclusion. But once I arrived on campus, I noticed something quite different from what I’d imagined. Whether it was the vigor with which people worship major industries or the intense disapproval of University policies allowing 2022 College graduate Lia Thomas to compete on the women’s swim team, I saw a conservative shadow cast by Penn students. Based on those formative observations, I’ve maintained that Penn students are truly moderate or ambivalent as a collective, not just liberal.
To test my theory, I spoke to three leaders in Penn’s chapter of College Republicans, who each asked to remain anonymous. When I asked if they also thought there were more conservatives at Penn than we usually recognize, one interviewee said that “even outside of College Republicans, I’ve noticed many Penn students with more conservative opinions, especially related to economics.” Another interviewee shared, “There are many issues that Penn students who aren’t Republicans will still take more conservative positions on, anyway.” They continued to say that conservative beliefs on social issues also exist at Penn, but many are “scared to share them.”
Aside from a person’s political beliefs, even one’s presence at Penn is a symbol of conservatism. After all, Penn practices legacy admissions, is extremely prestigious, and wasn’t fully co-educational until the 1970s. None of that signals a bastion of progressivism to me. I would argue that each of us has made the deeply conservative choice to attend or work at Penn.
I asked my interviewees if they agreed: Does Penn have a conservative institutional character? Once again, they all said yes. One shared that they “strongly agree,” and that Penn students embrace this conservatism through faith in “prestige” and “meritocracy.” While the term meritocracy has a philosophical depth beyond any political binary, wanting to chase prestige aligns itself with conservative ideals like hierarchy and traditional authority. I don’t think it’s irrational to want a prestigious education or career, though that desire ultimately buys into a conservative ideology.
So regardless of the self-espoused politics of its students and faculty, Penn is a deeply conservative institution. That’s the uncomfortable part for many of this article’s readers. It’s one thing to recognize that you disagree with an institution, but it’s a different and equally important thing to reconcile your decision to attend and participate in it. Put simply, you may have more conservative values than you even realize, as evidenced by your choice to go to Penn.
Despite our university’s undeniably conservative posture and our ideologically diverse student body, Penn students don’t feel comfortable expressing conservative dissent. My interviewees each strongly agreed that they had to avoid expressing their political beliefs, citing fears of social exclusion or academic retaliation. Perhaps this is unsurprising, given that Penn consistently ranks poorly in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s annual campus free speech rankings. FIRE’s methodology relies, in part, on the number of Penn students who regularly self-censor, which they estimate could be as high as 52% of students. I’d wager a bet that most of those students are shying away from their conservative beliefs.
It goes without saying that self-censorship is a problem. The marketplace of ideas means that weaker positions fail to gain traction because of their relative inferiority. When conservative or even ambivalent students don’t feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, that marketplace loses value. We all benefit from sharing controversial ideas. It makes our own perspectives sharper. This phenomenon is impossible if conservative students are actually facing social punishment for their views, as one of my interviewees has alleged. This intolerance is especially troubling in a place like the Ivy League, where conservative values, like prestige, benefit all of us.
To be clear, I doubt that conservatives outnumber liberals on Penn’s campus. However, it’s important to add nuance to your understanding of the politics of Penn’s student body. Not everyone falls in line to advocate for progressive ideals, and many students don’t label their beliefs at all. You should hold that in mind whenever you engage in discourse at Penn. And, rather importantly, you need to think about where you actually stand and rationalize your own conservatism.
JACK LAKIS is a College junior studying political science and communication from Kennesaw, Ga. He formerly served as the Opinion Editor of the 141st Board and currently serves as the Editorial Board Chair of the 142nd Board. His email is jlakis@sas.upenn.edu.
