Is State College, Pennsylvania, a progressive town?

[Kickin_Donkey]

Judging by the response to Penn State's Orange Bowl win last night, there seems to be at least a few Nittany Lions on DU.

I'm curious about whether State College is a liberal college town. We all know about the famously liberal university towns: Ann Arbor, Madison, Austin, Boulder, Eugene, Burlington, and the big kahuna, Berkeley.

And on DU I've heard mention of college towns that are islands of progressivism in otherwise red or purple states: Columbus OH, Lawrence KS, Chapel Hill NC, Columbia MO, Athens GA, Gainesville and Tallahassee FL, Bloomington IN, et al.

But what about State College? I know that Pennsylvania is described as "Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between," with the latter being where PSU is located. But State College would seem to be another ideal liberal college town -- it's the home of the main state university with a massive student body in a state that has progressive elements (although not in the center of the state).

So, can anybody confirm whether it's a liberal college town? And while we're at it, what about Fayetteville, Oxford MS, Knoxville, Norman, even Tuscaloosa?

[mattclearing]

1. Funny, I thought all college towns were liberal.

Isn't that usually how it skews?

[Kickin_Donkey]

6. That's how it usually skews with big state universities ...

but, according to posts below, that isn't the case with State College, PA.

[Junkdrawer]

2. Nope. The residents are VERY conservative. Many students are...

progressive, but, in general very Conservative.

My friend worked there for about 8 years and I trust his judgment.

[Junkdrawer]

3. BTW: State College PA is hometown for AccuWeather...

and anyone who listened to Joe Bastardi has heard the politics of a typical Happy Valley resident.

[gauguin57]

4. No, I wouldn't call State College a "liberal town." The university does

have its progressive impact on the town, but I'd call it a pretty mixed place, politically -- with a leaning toward the conservative.

Plenty of Bible-thumper letters to the editor at the local paper, the Centre Daily Times. Plenty of right-wing talk on the radio. The State College Borough Council is usually pretty evenly divided between Pug and Dem. The mayor is a Dem.

Fortunately, years ago, when a local conservative group started its own independent newspaper, the liberals started their own, as well. It's Voices of Central Pennsylvania (I love to read it when I visit my alma mater).

http://www.voicesweb.org

The conservative paper (I believe) is long dead, but the liberal one is still available all over town and campus.

State College is DEFINITELY no Berkeley!!!!

And keep in mind ... one of its most famous citizens (that would be Joe Paterno) is a Bushie -- he's friends with Bush Sr., for whom he actively campaigned for president. Paterno's son ran for U.S. Rep. from the Harrisburg area (as a Repug, of course).

[AlabamaYankee]

5. Not Hardly

Overall it may be a bit more progressive than the surrounding region, but it's thin soup. The Democratic Party, last I heard, was prety ineffective, and until they were banished to the Religion section the paper published more literal/fundamentalist letters to the editor than the Auburn, Alabama, paper where I live now.

Like many isolated college towns, it's run in large part by the long time local families who are well entrenched and very conservative.