Trevor Traina, a tech entrepreneur from San Francisco, attended Princeton University before pursuing advanced degrees from Oxford and UC Berkeley. His son Robby (not his real name) is a varsity athlete with a 4.0 grade point average who is off to college this year—and wants nothing to do with his father’s alma maters or, for that matter, any other Ivy League school. Robby chose Wake Forest in North Carolina instead.
Traina says a big reason for his son’s decision is to avoid a culture of radical politics and stifling political correctness that has come to define the campuses of elite schools in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
In Traina’s view, students have come to view these schools as “unfun, judgy, and biased against white boys.” He added that many of his son’s friends likewise sought out more welcoming Southern schools like Duke, Vanderbilt, and Tulane.
They are not alone. Recent admissions data show a surge in students from the Northeast and other regions choosing schools in the South. Politics is not the only reason of course. But interviews with parents, students, and university officials suggest the ascendance of a new type of college ideal: a campus where belonging, affordability, and civility matter most.
