Niche Hippie Schools

[no1capybara]

On the Colleges in Dire Financial Straits, Hibush mentioned "niche schools", i.e. single sex, HBCU's.  But they also mentioned "high performing hippie schools", and I immediately flashed back to visiting my friend on the Bennington campus in the late 80's and how much I wanted to be one of those black-clad, chain-smoking lithe women. 

What are some other hippie schools, here's what I came up with:

High performing hippie schools.  I would guess:

Sarah Lawrence
Bennington
Evergreen
Oberlin (?)
what was the campus that was allowing 'right to die' and talking about providing cyanide capsules? (i could legitimately be misremembering this)
Boston College(?)
Naropa

Any low ranking hippie schools?

[Hegemony]

I would actually classify Evergreen as a low-ranking hippie school.

[Caracal]

On the Colleges in Dire Financial Straits, Hibush mentioned "niche schools", i.e. single sex, HBCU's.  But they also mentioned "high performing hippie schools", and I immediately flashed back to visiting my friend on the Bennington campus in the late 80's and how much I wanted to be one of those black-clad, chain-smoking lithe women. 

What are some other hippie schools, here's what I came up with:

High performing hippie schools.  I would guess:

Sarah Lawrence
Bennington
Evergreen
Oberlin (?)
what was the campus that was allowing 'right to die' and talking about providing cyanide capsules? (i could legitimately be misremembering this)
Boston College(?)
Naropa

Any low ranking hippie schools?

I don't think Oberlin is really hippy-certainly very publicly progressive, but hippy has a different vibe for me.

[mahagonny]

It's getting harder for progressives to cast themselves as counterculture, now that they dominate pro sports, Hollywood, media including ('legacy'), corporate boards, teachers' unions, the military, government, Pulitzer, academia of course. A hippie student today just seems like a revivalist going for a nostalgic vibe. Tie-died shirts, torn dungarees. A gig in DEI staff is the ultimate establishment today. The hippie persona is no problem to them or their agenda.

Keene State U seemed kind of hippy to me but I haven't been there in some time. Probably George W. Bush years.

[Ruralguy]

Since when was Boston College (or anything in Boston), "hippie?"

[mamselle]

BC has a huge campus with a wide range of programs; the Law School is probably 2-3x the size of Theology ((if you're thinking of that as their 'niche,' it's not).

Lesley might be semi-niche, semi-hippie, but its standards are decent and its been growing its campus, so it only partially could qualify.

Wheelock's been swallowed by BU, Wentworth might function as a 'niche engineering school,' or Olin, maybe; possibly some mini-Law or Business schools might fit the definition,  but maybe that's the first thing to do: spell out the definition.

Size/ by...what? Student body? Faculty? Land owned? Buildings?
Degree of focus, by, ?number of degrees offered? BA/BS, MA/MS, PhD?

Isolation? Or does that signify? Rural/Urban?

Other?

I'd strongly consider Antioch of Ohio, in any case...

M.

[marshwiggle]

On the Colleges in Dire Financial Straits, Hibush mentioned "niche schools", i.e. single sex, HBCU's.  But they also mentioned "high performing hippie schools", and I immediately flashed back to visiting my friend on the Bennington campus in the late 80's and how much I wanted to be one of those black-clad, chain-smoking lithe women. 

What are some other hippie schools, here's what I came up with:

High performing hippie schools.  I would guess:

Sarah Lawrence
Bennington
Evergreen
Oberlin (?)
what was the campus that was allowing 'right to die' and talking about providing cyanide capsules? (i could legitimately be misremembering this)
Boston College(?)
Naropa

Any low ranking hippie schools?

Evergreen did themselves a lot of damage with the fiasco of the "Day of Absence" a few years ago. Oberlin did it with the boycott leading to them losing the big lawsuit.

If education is their primary focus, that's great. If activism is, their long term prospects aren't so good.

[Parasaurolophus]

Marlboro, except that it closed recently.

St. John's?

[jerseyjay]

My experience at BC is that it is no way a hippie school. It has a large sports culture, connections to the Boston Irish communities, and a large number of upper middle class students who want to remain upper middle class, not to mention a certain number of men who want to be priests. Yes, there are "hippies" there, but there are also hippies at Arizona State as well. There are probably hippies at BYU. But they don't define the school culture. (That said, I don't know if I would have called Cal a hippie school in the 1960s, because most Berkeley students were not hippies, even if the counterculture had a large influence.)

If we want a Massachusetts school, I would say Hampshire.

(I am not 100 per cent sure what we mean by "hippie," since music, sex, drugs, and "progressive" politics are present at most places. Hippie is sort of a historically-specific term.)

[apl68]

St. John's?

They're certainly different enough that one could see them attracting a lot of aspiring latter-day hippies.

[Hibush]

Reed College. Granted, my sample is adults who do amazing novel hippie stuff, but a disproportionate number are Reedies.

[mahagonny]

If education is their primary focus, that's great. If activism is, their long term prospects aren't so good.

I don't see any evidence that they think that. Their view seems to be that the $37 million penalty is manageable. I would expect them to continue their imaginary racism purging.

Statement: https://www2.oberlin.edu/appeal/

[mythbuster]

Everyone's East coast bias is showing here. Definitely Reed! No way on Boston College. UC Santa Cruz used to be, but isn't anymore. Pitzer College of the Claremont colleges also used to be- but I'm not sure about now. Colorado College also with the block course format.

Unity College in Maine is all about environmental sustainability.

In a different niche direction I will offer Hampden-Sydney. Possibly the one remaining all men's LAC. Will we see a resurgence of Men's colleges so that they can have a safe space where they don't have to compete with the women? I ask half in jest, but also half seriously given the demographic trends of the college population.

[marshwiggle]

Everyone's East coast bias is showing here. Definitely Reed! No way on Boston College. UC Santa Cruz used to be, but isn't anymore. Pitzer College of the Claremont colleges also used to be- but I'm not sure about now. Colorado College also with the block course format.

Unity College in Maine is all about environmental sustainability.

In a different niche direction I will offer Hampden-Sydney. Possibly the one remaining all men's LAC. Will we see a resurgence of Men's colleges so that they can have a safe space where they don't have to compete with the women? I ask half in jest, but also half seriously given the demographic trends of the college population.

From the point of all kinds of accusations of sexism, mansplaining, sexual assault, etc., it could be very popular for men who just want to avoid all of that entirely.

[jimbogumbo]

Antioch definitely was, but is closed. Earlham was, and still largely is.