A new study by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles seems to lend credence to what many have suspected for years: Students get more liberal while they’re in college.

On issues such as abortion, gay marriage and religion, college students shift noticeably to the left between their freshman and junior years according to the study, excerpted by the Associated Press. Data collected based on a sample of nearly 15,000 students who entered 136 colleges in 2004 showed that:

• The percentage of college juniors who said they supported legalized abortion rose from 52 percent to 60.
• The percentage supporting “legal marital status” for gay couples rose from 54 to 66.
• The percentage supporting increased defense spending fell from 34 to 25.

But rather than being influenced by left-leaning faculty members, the researchers attribute the shift more to students’ exposure to their peers. At most colleges, they concluded, left-leaning peer groups are more common than conservative ones.

In the end, it might not make much difference where the influence comes from. After college, students – particularly women – move back to the right politically, the study found. The percentage who called themselves “conservative” or “far right” increased from 28.1 percent to 31.6 percent six years after graduation.

Donna Winchester, higher education reporter

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