Political Attitudes of Students in Three Predominantly Black Colleges

Studies made in the late sixties and early seventies of the main determinants of the political attitudes of students tended to the role of agents within the school setting.1 It was, therefore, astonishing to pollster George Gallup that his own survey -released in April 1975-indicated such a sharp shift (over 23%) to the left among students between their freshman (30% holding a left-of-center position) and senior years (53% holding a left-of-center position).2 Our own survey, taken between October 1974 and March 1975, of 365 students in three of the undergraduate colleges of the Atlanta University Center Schools,3 was designed to test the discount theory and indeed indicated a shift to the left of even greater proportion than that reported by Gallup. Our data suggest, therefore, that far from being true, the discount theory itself deserves to be discounted. In addition, our study hoped to pinpoint exactly what part of that college experience-in a complex where a Black perspective on politics is stressed-is responsible for the change. We succeeded to the ex

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