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Inside Iowa State, a newspaper for faculty and staff, is published by the Office of University Relations.

April 14, 2006

ISU freshmen more conservative than their national peers

Selected results from the Freshmen Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute. Freshmen at Iowa State and nearly 400 other universities and colleges most recently were surveyed in fall 2005.

Politics

ISU

National
Keeping up to date with political affairs (essential/very important) 28.4% 38.0%
Political orientation (conservative or far right) 30.8 25.0
Political orientation (liberal or far left) 22.8 31.6

Volunteerism
Performed volunteer work during past year 84.2 85.0
Very good chance of volunteering, doing community service in college 18.8 25.0

High school
Average high school grade A+, A or A- 53.7 54.8
Spent 6 or more hours per week studying/doing homework 23.3 34.3

Family values (essential/very important)
Raise a family 78.5 75.0
Be very well off financially 74.9 75.6
Develop a meaningful philosophy of life 38.9 45.5

Religious involvement
Attended religious services (frequently/occasionally) 86.4 79.0
Spent any time per week in prayer or meditation 63.9 61.6

Drinking, smoking and partying
Drank beer in last year (frequently/occasionally) 41.2 42.2
Drank wine or liquor in last year 43.0 48.6
Spent 6 or more hours per week partying 21.0 20.4
Smoked cigarettes in last year (frequently) 3.6 4.7

Views on diversity
Agree racial discrimination no longer a major problem in U.S. 26.9 21.3
Believe it's essential/very important to promote racial understanding 18.6 32.8
Frequently socialized with someone of another racial/ethnic group during past year 54.0 66.4

Summary

Fewer ISU freshmen keep up with political events than their counterparts nationwide, but they rate religious involvement and raising a family higher than their peers.