Line #39 Main/StrawmanU


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Magazine/{{Mad}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capture1_96.PNG]]]]
2
3	->''"[The stereotype is] that people here just smoke pot and talk about Buddhism, but I'm pretty positive I haven't had one conversation about Buddhism."''
4	-->-- '''''The Insider's Guide to the Colleges''''' regarding the Evergreen State College
5
6	A school stereotype that permits assumptions about the type of student the school will attract. [[EliteSchoolMeansEliteBrain Knowing the character attends a particular school implies a set of characteristics]].
7
8	The schools used for this fall into the following categories:
9
10	!!Berserkeley
11	Schools that have a stereotype of a very left-wing education.\
12	"Shameless" is simply not enough to describe this school. It's is filled with [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl nudists]], {{Granola Girl}}s demanding you go vegan, {{Hollywood Atheist}}s who get furious at the mere mention of something vaguely religious and won't hesitate to tell you you're a [[Main/BeliefMakesYouStupid deluded fundie who believes in an Invisible Sky Wizard Fascist who Doesn't Believe In Rationality]], [[TheStoner stoners]], {{Straw Nihilist}}s, [[DirtyCommunists angry socialists/communists/anarchists/your choice of far-left radicals]] spending most of their time plotting to overthrow Western civilization if they're not [[NoTrueScotsman fighting each other on how truly leftist they are]], [[MalcolmXerox pissed-off black nationalists]] and/or [[EverythingIsRacist similarly militant minorities]] who really hate white students and/or minorities not their own, [[StrawFeminist angry radical feminists]] who see sexism everywhere and will fight you (and each other) over your role in enforcing gender norms (or even not enforcing gender norms), irritating, pretentious, elitist {{hipster}}s wearing risible fashions and [[ItsPopularNowItSucks sneering at "the mainstream"]] (anything not their art, really), radical postmodernist philosophers who claim everything up to basic logic itself is but a social construct and/or systemic oppression, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot angry marijuana-toking nihilist anarchosocialist-communist anti-white radfeminist hipster Nudist artists]]. The faculty will be all of the above -- just with pieces of paper saying they're better educated. And they'll probably throw nudist parties with weed.
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14	Every third storefront will be a coffeehouse or bar stuffed to the brim with atheist nihilists {{Wangst}}ing about everything, or pretentious beatniks explaining how [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible true their incomprehensible art is]]. The city council is packed with people who pass truly absurd ordinances, keep out big businesses that could improve the town, and harass anyone who disagrees with the left-wing politics of the city will into leaving, just after they finish decriminalizing weed.
15
16	Real schools used to invoke this one:
17	* The ''entire'' University of California gets this rap:
18	** University of California, Berkeley, [[TropeNamers of course]]. Useful for radical-left political flavoring.[[note]]Ironically, one of their alumni was right-wing California Governor Pete Wilson.[[/note]][[note]]Berkeley itself also perhaps deviates from the stereotype by being host to cutting-edge sciences and engineering departments as well due to its proximity to the technology hubs of San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, which usually [[{{Flanderization}} gets ignored]] in more political works.[[/note]]
19	** UC Santa Cruz belongs to an already famously progressive town (the town denied permission to the Navy to operate there, and forbade the police to press drug charges against marijuana smokers -- especially if smoking in public, and has the largest 420 gathering in Northern California).
20	** UC Santa Barbara is [[NeverLiveItDown infamous]] for the fiery destruction of a Bank of America building, after [[https://livinghistory.as.ucsb.edu/2020/07/20/bank-of-america-burning/ a peaceful protest against the company spiraled into an all-out riot]]. Since then, it's become better known for its party scene than its politics, but it has cropped up at the forefront of national issues, specifically mass shootings and the incel movement with the 2014 Isla Vista shooting near the campus,[[note]]The killer wasn't a UCSB student, though he had taken courses at a nearby community college called Santa Barbara City College. [[AllGuysWantSororityWomen He did try to attack a UCSB sorority house (as he resented attractive women for not having sex with him)]], but he couldn't get in and subsequently started shooting random people around Isla Vista instead[[/note]] and the housing crisis with plans to build Munger Hall[[note]]A "space-efficient" tower -- intended to address the lack of housing available for its student body - that doesn't provide windows for any of its bedrooms[[/note]] for this campus.
21	** Even the newer [=UCs=] aren't immune, as UC Irvine had an incident where the black students' club chained themselves together and marched into the student council meeting to protest a racist incident perpetrated by an Asian-American frat. That being said, UCLA has [[https://www.thefire.org/largest-ever-free-speech-survey-of-college-students-ranks-top-campuses-for-expression/ received praise]] for promoting free speech, averting a major part of the stereotype (especially since the source (FIRE) has more than a few right wing connections)[[note]]FIRE, often stereotyped as right-wing because of their free speech activism, is actually known for cases in which it has filed suits against both sides of the political aisle[[/note]].
22	* Wellesley College -- This one is handy if you need a StrawFeminist overtone.
23	** Any of the Seven Sisters -- Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Radcliffe (assimilated by Harvard), and Vassar (now co-ed) -- will suffice.
24	* University of Michigan, Ann Arbor -- Great for pegging the character as an activist. Actually active, that is, rather than just slinging the activist lingo. [[AnimalWrongsGroup Good one for anti-animal testing shenanigans]].
25	* The University of Glasgow in Scotland fits the political part of this but not really the pretentiousness bit. That would be St Andrews or Edinburgh.
26	* Reed College in UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon -- they only tell students their grades if specifically asked, the administration has an extremely lax drug-use policy even for hyper-progressive Portland, and about half of their traditions are weird hippie in-jokes. More infamously, a student group called Reedies Against Racism (RAR) protested and harassed humanities professors and guest speaker [[Film/BoysDontCry Kimberly Peirce]], accusing them of [[EverythingIsRacist promoting racism and bigotry]].[[note]]Strangely enough, the campus also boasts a nuclear research reactor.[[/note]]
27	* The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington -- does not assign grades to students at ''all'' in favor of "narrative evaluations,"[[note]]Despite the flack about "no grades," they're actually like the performance evaluations one would get at an office job.[[/note]] many of the courses offered are political in nature, and there are no "departments" like you'd see at other schools -- all classes are a form of "integrated studies" which approach a single issue from several different academic angles, with freshmen and seniors often in the same class. Professors are addressed by first name most of the time. The school operates an organic farm and a nonprofit vegetarian restaurant staffed and operated by unpaid volunteers who manage cooperatively.[[note]]Out of the 100-plus clubs on campus, only about five are not directly related to any left-wing political agenda. These are the clubs dealing with anime, tabletop gaming, and live-action role-playing. Geeks do well there.[[/note]] Briefly enjoyed national attention when a campus-wide protest over racial injustices, in which white students and faculty were pressured to stay off the campus for a day, prompted students to denounce certain faculty who opposed said protest (including then-biology professor Bret Weinstein[[note]]who would go on to become a right-wing public intellectual, most famous for his identification with the so-called "Intellectual Dark Web"[[/note]]), which devolved to the point that, reportedly, roving bands of armed students began searching the campus and surrounding area for dissenters. Pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie (famous for being killed in an attempt to stop the destruction of a Palestinian home by armed Israelis) is among the college's alumni, and in 2024, the school became the first American institution to pledge to fully remove all companies that support Israel from their investor list.
28	* The University of Colorado Boulder -- Much like UC-Berkeley. A progressive college in a progressive enclave in a comparatively moderate state, referred to as "nine square miles surrounded by reality". [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Churchill Ward Churchill]] (he of the infamous essay alleging that the 9/11 victims were [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Eichmanns "little Eichmanns"]]) was a professor here, and like UC-Santa Cruz, it has a large pothead population, and endorses a Halloween nudist run where revellers will wear nothing but jack-o'-lanterns on their heads, which annoys the local police to no end. It is an oddity in the University of Colorado system, since its sister school, UC Colorado Springs, is more known for being a haven for nerdy STEM students and business majors, and UC Denver is known for a high percentage of art students.
29	* Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos from Perú, The National University of Saint Mark; alongside with the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru are amongst the most known examples in the aforementioned country. That said, the behaviour mentioned above is associated mostly with the arts and literature faculties of each university whilst the engineering and science departments go in the opposite direction.
30	** It must be noted, however, that despite the reputation, [[EveryoneHasStandards there is a line against radical leanings]] due to the damage and misery caused by communists guerrillas in the 80's and the 90's.
31	* Virginia Commonwealth University in the state's capital of UsefulNotes/{{Richmond\|Virginia}}, particularly its School of Arts, is known for its highly liberal use of drugs and high amount of {{hipster}}s.
32	* George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia-- Outside of their prestigious School of Economics, has enough dyed-hair feminists and such a diverse student body to be known as the Website/{{Tumblr}} of Virginia schools. Being near the super progressive District of Columbia certainly helps.
33	* Kent State University in Kent, Ohio -- Popular for antiwar-style liberals, thanks to the 1970 National Guard shooting that killed four students.
34	* University of Wisconsin-Madison -- likewise a history of 1960s [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam-era]] activism, long called "Berkeley of the Midwest."
35	* Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio has a reputation for "progressive activism" where students were known to adorn the interior hallways with left-wing graffiti. Or, as Aileen [=LeBlanc=] of Creator/{{NPR}}'s ''All Things Considered'' put it, "The college stands proudly as a progressive place, with a reputation of breeding beatnik, toxic, hippie, gay, New Age, vegan weirdoes." And she was being sympathetic. The college was closed from June 2008 to October 2011 for "restructuring."
36	* Although many religious colleges fit easily into the Jim Jonestown University mold described below, a few don't:
37	** Augsburg University (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is quite left-wing (hell, its parent church is basically a InNameOnly evangelical church). It has enough of a diverse student body to be termed as the Website/{{Twitter}} of religious universities, and one of its campus organizations is a college branch of Amnesty International. Susan Allen, the first openly lesbian Native American to win election to a state legislature, was a student here.
38	** Ashland University (Brethren Church) in Ashland, Wisconsin, is fairly left-wing. One of the largest majors offered there is in Toxicology/Environmental Sciences.
39	** Bard College (Episcopal Church) in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York is fairly left-wing, and has contributed to social justice campaigns, including a prison education campaign. It tends to be more famous for its alumni, which includes Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Music/SteelyDan and Adam Yauch of Music/BeastieBoys.
40	** Earlham College (Religious Society of Friends -- i.e. the Quakers) in Richmond, Indiana, is so left-wing that everybody is addressed by their first name -- calling an instructor 'Mister', 'Ms.', 'Professor' or 'Doctor' So-and-So is definitely frowned upon.[[note]]This isn't a lefty thing, this is a Quaker thing: testimony of equality.[[/note]] Students are often at odds with the local and regional Yearly Meetings (the Quaker equivalent of a synod) over sexuality and drinking. (In case you're wondering, the Yearly Meetings are against both.)
41	** Mexico has its Jesuit universities: the Iberoamerican Universities (Mexico City, León, Puebla and Torreón), the Pacific Loyola University in Acapulco, the ITESO in Guadalajara, and the Ayuuk Intercultural Higher Education Institute -- the last one's name comes from the lectures and courses being literally taught in the local ayuuk language.
42	* The University of the Philippines (or UP for short) in metropolitan Manila, Philippines has gained a reputation as a hotbed for activists and radicals spanning ''the entire political spectrum''. Historically, it has been stereotyped as being both Communist and far-left, though with their ideological rivals very close behind.
43	** It's worth noting that UP's reputation — rightly or wrongly — of harbouring radical left-leaning nationalism, up to and including Communist thought, is an almost complete inversion of its own image in TheFifties and earlier, when ''the same university'' was held up as an example of rigorously conservative ''and pro-American'' ideological types. There were even powerful organisations allied with the Catholic hierarchy, and [[RedScare campus witch-hunts against left-leaning students and faculty]] — [[EaglelandOsmosis just like in the States]]! ItMakesSenseInContext though, because UP was originally founded by the Americans themselves, in the early days of the Philippines as a formal U.S. colonial possession, and in TheFifties, though a nominally "independent" nation, the Philippines was still far under the shadow of American influence that wanted an iron guarantee of its allies' loyalties—it was, after all, the Cold War.
44	* The University of Texas at Austin is noted for this, as Austin is very famously a weird and progressive place. It's somewhat unclear whether the university is weird because it's in Austin or the city is weird because UT is in it. Either way it often gets contrasted with Texas A&M.
45	* The University of Kansas. Its home city, Lawrence, has a long tradition of being a progressive bastion in deeply-conservative Kansas, going back to its abolitionist roots in the Civil War.
46	* The University of Missouri: in 2015, protests erupted over a swastika drawn in feces on a bathroom wall. This eventually spiraled out of control; professor Melissa Click threatened a student journalist who was attempting to cover the demonstrations, and bogus rumors about the KKK appearing on campus began to circulate. This damaged Mizzou's reputation, as enrollment and donations saw a remarkable decline in the aftermath.
47	* Sarah Lawrence College, in Yonkers, New York, is strongly left-wing, and has been attacked by many right-wing pundits for its focus on social justice.
48	* Williams College in Massachusetts is often seen as this. A biology professor complained of many student protests against her curriculum, and the school newspaper declared its main mission to be social justice.
49	* Tel Aviv University in Israel has the most left-leaning students in Israel.
50
51	!!St. Jim Jonestown Academy
52	Schools that have a stereotype of a very right-wing education.
53
54	A BoardingSchoolOfHorrors run by the harshest, most conservative CorruptChurch imaginable and their goons, bordering on [[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini fascism]]. Infested with {{Sinister Minister}}s and [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalists]] who constantly [[HolierThanThou teach lies and intolerance in the classroom]] and will give the worst punishments to those who even think otherwise, and MoralGuardians blaming the downfall of America on the lack of Jesus and the presence of boobs on TV. The students are small-minded Bible thumpers that are scared of any technology more advanced than a radio. The teachers are ultra-capitalist economic professors who think anything vaguely leftist is "communist" and that poor people deserve to die. Most of the men are {{Jerk Jock}}s [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain who won't pass up the opportunity to spew racist and homophobic slurs at every opportunity]], and are more concerned with football/hockey/some kind of "real" sport than anything else (besides disgusting hazing rituals, physical escalations of the aforementioned slur-spewing bigotry, and getting protected by the local cops after ruining some local student's life). Most of the women are shrieking harpies who think anything above the knees is Satan's clothing and sneer at anyone who doesn't adhere to gender norms as "people playing out a fetish", accusing any vaguely liberal woman of being attention-seeking gender traitors, enabling the men to abuse women, and also running disgusting hazing rituals and [[AlphaBitch terrorising people outside of their cliques like it's high school]]. The rest of the students are thinly-veiled neo-Nazis who blame everything on the Jews, [[GoodOlBoy Good Ol' Boys]] hoping to go into the government for [[CorruptPolitician tax breaks and kickbacks while further destroying social programs]], [[ANaziByAnyOtherName hoping to destroy any "socialist" or "cultural marxist" threat to the Good Old Ways]] or [[GeneralRipper to bomb them commies]], and ignoramuses who think Islam is a race and every black person is from the ghetto. The faculty and students will often be incredibly racist, sexist, and/or homophobic, and anyone who doesn't fit into the herd gets beaten down -- literally, in some cases. ContractualPurity is required of students and faculty alike, both on and off campus. For students, it may be ''literally'' a contractual requirement, depending on the school.
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56	Anyone who has half a brain turns out to be a StepfordSmiler, HolierThanThou, AxCrazy, or [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Holier-Than-Thou Ax Crazy Stepford Smilers]]. The city council will be packed with oppressive right-wingers who want to eject anyone who dares to suggest toning any of this down. Being a historic university, its founding charter frequently comes with a long and detailed list of complex bylaws and regulations which just seem tailor-made for the Dean to abuse our plucky heroes. Whatever police or deans are there will often cover up for anyone committing heinous deeds -- especially if it's the (very male) college sports team.
57
58	Schools in this continuum:
59	* Horrifically TruthInTelevision in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain. Boarding schools were not a Victorian innovation, but the institution was embraced as a means of counteracting the softening, emasculating influence of mothers and preparing young men for the harsh rigors of the world of business and Empire. The move to purposefully harsh institutions as a solution to parental mollycoddling took place in the context of the early-mid Victorian love of childhood and doting parenthood, which it was later feared would render the new generation of the better sort of people -- i.e. the middle and upper classes -- too soft to maintain Anglo supremacy. Thus, boarding schools were intended to break the attendants and thus prevent them from becoming 'soft' and/or homosexual. More specifically they would instill discipline and self-discipline, deference to authority, strict morals, a vague sense of the Christian religion, and teamwork. This was of course in addition to all the usual things one expects a public school (a school open to the paying public as opposed to a private school, which was more exclusive) to do. To make a long story short, the architects of of this system were great admirers of [[TheSpartanWay Sparta]] -- enough said.
60	* Religious schools that primarily turn out pastors and missionaries (Bob Jones, Regent, Oral Roberts, [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Brigham Young]], etc.).
61	** All of these schools (except BYU) are rather infamous for their morality codes which threaten summary expulsion for the heinous crimes of fraternizing with the opposite sex (or indeed the same sex, which is infinitely worse), dressing in immodest clothing, drinking alcohol, listening to contemporary music or getting an unconventional haircut. BYU has a morality code, but it's more concerned with things that go against Mormon beliefs, mainly alcohol, tobacco, and especially sex outside marriage. As for the other schools mentioned, Regent tends to be a tiny bit more laid-back than the others, mostly because a large proportion of the school is graduate students in secular fields such as law, government, communications, and business.[[note]]Incidentally, if you're familiar with the "Don't Talk to the Police" [=YouTube=] video... the lecturer is a law professor at Regent who regularly gives this presentation.[[/note]]
62	** Liberty University used to merit inclusion on this list, but in the new millennium and particularly since the passing of founder Jerry Falwell it has become a ''lot'' more laid-back on issues like clothing, tattoos and piercings, and other personal style choices. Drinking, drugs, sex outside marriage and NC-17 or X-rated movies are still off-limits, though. By the mid-to-late-2010s, virtually all of these schools have scaled back their dress code. It's still stricter than at non-religious universities, and it is still enforces right-wing politics to a great extent, to the point of firing its social media managers for supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement.
63	* Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) is a private university that has this characteristic with {{granola girl}}s in the mix.
64	** Worth noting though that PUCP has such ''politically'' left-wing tendencies [[note]]though these are mostly from the Letters faculties, the Sciences one is mostly right-wing[[/note]] that it's been disciplined and (allegedly) stripped of its titles by TheChurch (though with Pope Francis, reconciliation is on the way). PUCP is [[MathematiciansAnswer both types of Strawman U at once]]!
65	* DeepSouth schools big and small can get this treatment (Washington and Lee, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ole Miss).
66	* Texas A&M[[note]]For those wondering, the letters are a reference to the old name, "The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas", today an ArtifactTitle. Universities can undergo NetworkDecay too.[[/note]] gets a big (not exactly unwarranted) reputation for this, especially compared to its more progressive and diverse neighbor/rival, [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]] University of Texas at Austin. Until 1960, it was closed to women and minorities (then again, 'liberal' colleges such as Harvard were closed to women as well) and required all students to train as reserve officers in the Army (ROTC, basically). Even after the end of that requirement, A&M's Corps of Cadets is far larger than the average and A&M remains one of the most conservative schools in the country.
67	* Mexico has the Pan-American University, where law students are never once taught about divorce procedure, you're required to show up to your exams wearing a three-piece suit, you must always behave like a distinguished member of the elite in and outside of campus, you must always go to church every single Sunday and confess yourself regularly. They view Jesuit colleges as full of unruly potheads.
68	** Monterrey Tech (ITESM), the National Polytechnical Institute (IPN) and the Autonomous University of Guadalajara are conservative too, albeit in a more filthy-rich-right-wing way.
69	* Historically, many famous universities were of this variety to different degrees. Many once had requirements much like those of private American Christian universities today, if not more-faculty and students had to make strict statements of faith, dissenting views were not tolerated. Even what are now stereotypically progressive universities like Harvard started this way - it was founded by a Puritan, who denounced secular education in general. Oxford University forbade Isaac Newton joining the faculty because of his heterodox beliefs (denying the Trinity) - in fact it required faculty to be Anglican priests, which he wasn't. Newton joined only after being granted special dispensation. Trinity College Dublin was founded by Elizabeth I, permitting Anglicans only for centuries (when Ireland was - as it remains - majority Catholic). In response to the university removing the restriction on Catholics, the Catholic bishops banned them from enrolling in the university without special dispensation. "The Ban", as it was known, was only repealed in 1970.
70	Note that the two former examples are ''generic'' higher education institutions which give academic education but do not prepare for any profession. There ''may'' be a third example of an academy, which would prepare for academic professions, especially engineering:
71
72	!! Sokal Institute of Rock-Hard Sciences and Technology
73	If you want to TakeAThirdOption by combining the left-wing and right-wing flavors under one roof.\
74	A [[AwesomeEgo shamelessly intellectually elitist]] IvyLeagueForEveryone which is just as shamelessly HardOnSoftScience. This academy concentrates on hard natural sciences as well as engineering and industrial management, with possible faculties of economy, business and law. Expect a lot of [[GadgeteerGenius tech-savvy]] nerds and {{Geek}}s, including sizable {{Asian\|AndNerdy}} (from both East and [[BollywoodNerd South]] Asia) and {{Jewish\|AndNerdy}} contingents. These guys certainly won't think EverybodyHatesMathematics or ScienceIsUseless. Expect a lot of HollywoodAtheist and StrawNihilist types, often overlapping with MadScientist. If the academy has a faculty for law, the AmoralAttorney is omnipresent. The teaching staff will include the AbsentMindedProfessor with EinsteinHair, MadScientist professors aiming for Nobel prizes, Engineers who absolutely despise anyone not them (and show their displeasure by pulling complicated MIT-style pranks on their less-than-enlightened fellows, either non-hard science majors or unfortunate students from Berserkeley and Jim Jonestown) and the occasional OmnidisciplinaryScientist. ''Everyone'' will wear a LabcoatOfScienceAndMedicine. Libertarian right-wing politics will predominate, but ''not'' religion, as everyone will claim to have OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions and assert that BeliefMakesYouStupid. If the university has a faculty of Economics, expect it to be ''horribly'' [[KillThePoor elitist]] and [[ThereAreNoGoodExecutives ultra-industrialist right wing]].
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76	The alumni ''will'' look frowningly downwards both the Berserkeley and St. Jim Jonestown Academy, considering themselves both morally and intellectually superior to them. Needless to say, the Berserkeley ''will'' loathe them as [[ScienceIsBad elitist techbro pricks destroying the environment and lower-class]] and St. Jim Jonestown as [[ScienceIsWrong amoral Commie Nazi Progressive nerds]]. Especially the Berserkeley alumni ''will'' consider anyone graduating here having a MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate. Expect many of the alumni being CorruptCorporateExecutive and AmoralAttorney types.
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78	Life outside studies consists of getting intoxicated and performing hacks and pranks. And, of course, MacGyvering things. Every other dorm looks like a complex maze of adjoined {{Hacker Cave}}s built over miles upon miles of underground steam tunnels to play [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] in. Expect a lot of science, astronomy and chemistry geeks, {{Playful Hacker}}s, {{otaku}} and LARP fanatics. ''Everyone'' will be [[NerdsAreVirgins single]] (save perhaps for the occasional TechBro the rest of them worship as a hero) and [[MotherNatureFatherScience male]].
79
80	Schools in this continuum:
81
82	* Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for all places. It's in the name that this is a college focused on science, math, and tech. It's a dream school for future scientists. However, it also has a strong creative writing program, oddly enough. And it is one of the few colleges in America that still has a mandatory Phy-Ed requirement, in the vein of traditional liberal arts ideals.
83	* California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Along with MIT, this is one of the classic tech schools.
84	* Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is another leading engineering and tech school, well-known for their focus on practical and industry-oriented education above all else. Interestingly, they're also home to a prominent College of Art and Design, and collaboration among students of different disciplines is highly encouraged, which makes for a [[WackyCollege rather unique atmosphere]] as far as tech schools go.
85	* Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is equidistant between MIT and RIT, and takes the stereotypes even further, being almost entirely focused on engineering. Their hockey team is even known as the "Engineers".
86	* California Lutheran University (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) in Thousand Oaks, California. Like Augsburg, it is fairly left wing, but with a more big tent flavor (to the point it's hosted several conservative speakers in the past). Outside of that, it has a reputation for its history with American football, being called the West Coast's "Cradle of Coaches" as nearly 1 in 4 of football coach Bob Shoup's players would go on to coach at some level.
87	* École Polytechnique (France)
88	* Universities of Cambridge, Strathclyde and Napier (UK)
89	* Kungliga Techniska Högskolan (Sweden)
90	* Aalto University (Finland)
91	* Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, [[RunningGag yet again]]. The Science faculties of the PUCP (those being: Physics, Engineering, Economy,...) fit mostly in the criteria mentioned above (with the exception that religion is not frowned upon by the alumni) and tend to have a rivalry with the left-leaning Letters faculties, often times taking shots at their [[ADegreeInUseless payless careers]], with the latter calling them out for being uncultured or too rigid on their beliefs.
92	* Stanford University (Palo Alto, California). While Stanford is a well-rounded school overall, it still has a reputation for being a tech school, probably at least partially because of its proximity to Silicon Valley, as well as a right-leaning economics department.
93	* The Technion (Haifa, Israel). The proximity to the University of Haifa (broader curriculum, but also strong in mathematics and computer science) has led some wags to joke that Haifa has the highest concentration of nerds in Israel.
94	* Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel)
95
96	!! Oxbridge University of St. Old Geezer the Posh
97	When you want to ridicule the elitism of academia without going particularly far to either end of political spectrum.\
98	Like Sokal, a [[AwesomeEgo shamelessly elitist]] IvyLeagueForEveryone, but unlike Sokal without the shameless focus on hard science. It does, however, has a shameless focus on social elitism; how intellectual it actually is, is less important. In fact, what it does matters less than what it ''is'': a stately, centuries-old school that will never let you forget the weight of its history. Ever. The buildings and interiors are all of well-worn stone and polished hard wood, possibly built in some sort of Gothic Revival architecture (or simply Medieval Gothic), there might be marble statues standing around, and the school might actually put the "tower" back in "ivory tower". Expect everyone on the premises to be some flavour of WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant (or its local equivalent), with just enough minority figures to fend off accusations of ''overt'' favouritism, and predominantly male. JewishAndNerdy is just enough on the posh side to register as minority while not looking too out of place. If a specific faculty is mentioned, it's probably going to be Literature, History, Classical Studies or some other discipline that carries the connotations of "old" and "posh" -- Law, Medicine and Mathematics being among the more practical to still check out -- and there might actually be a Theology faculty as a leftover of the school's ancient past. The teaching staff will include many an AbsentMindedProfessor, who unlike in Sokal, will probably spend more time eating lavish dinners with other members of the faculty than doing science, supplemented with a DeanBitterman enforcing the school's centuries-old rules in the name of Tradition, a ScaryLibrarian standing guard over the school's [[SpookySilentLibrary spooky]] [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything old library]], and [[Film/DeadPoetsSociety an occasional Robin Williams lookalike encouraging his students to read old literature]]. The most outright hostility you'll encounter, aside from the stuffy deans not allowing fun, is probably the [[CausticCritic bizarrely angry film/art/literary critic]] who may be as much of a [[TheGadfly contrarian as the protagonists]] and is either angering the faculty or the protagonists by claiming some well-lauded work is, in fact, total rubbish. Traditional gowns and headgear might actually be used as everyday clothing.
99
100	If there are politics involved, it's likely they won't go beyond a vague sense of conservative elitism.
101
102	Expect a grand hallway in the main building with oil painting portraits of notable alumni and statues of Nobel laureates who have graduated there. If the university is European, it ''will'' have a centuries long history, likely stretching back to the Middle Ages. There will be Latin and/or Greek inscriptions everywhere, and the university itself ''will'' have a PretentiousLatinMotto. There may be marble tables listing the alumni who have died in the nation's wars. The university takes exceptional pride on being ranked among the top 50 universities in the world [[note]]there are some 10,000 universities and colleges in the world[[/note]].
103
104	The typical student will be a scion of an established and wealthy family, most likely [[ShelteredAristocrat white, male, and somewhat intimidated by his parents' expectations]], but also less obnoxious and hostile than an alumnus of Jim Jones (because otherwise he'd just enroll there); the bad apples tend to be {{Upper Class Twit}}s and {{Spoiled Brat}}s. Many come there directly from some posh BoardingSchool. BigManOnCampus either doubles as UnclePennybags, or is a BlitheSpirit who somehow managed to enroll without the benefit of access to old money or a legacy admission. Expect to see a lot of bright upper middle class youth who have gained a scholarship there. Oxbridge alumni might look condescendingly at the alumni of other schools as too gauche, while in turn being seen as a bunch of clueless rich folks.
105
106	Life outside studies will probably involve belonging to an assorted BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats (actual secret societies and worship of owl effigies optional), triple-Greek-letter societies, reading, enjoying posh activities such as tennis or golf, or preparing to one-up the competing, equally-old and established school in a traditional annual sport event. Expect an excellent sports team (swimming, rowing, rugby, footy or similar traditional sports). If WackyFratboyHijinx occur, think improvisational poetry slams rather than simple boozing. Hazing might happen in form of subjecting the freshmen to weird in-jokes and traditions. If there are drugs on campus, opium is posher than ganja. If the university is located in Germany, expect a secret duelling society.
107
108	Schools in this continuum:
109
110	* Oxford and Cambridge, with Oxford winning by a hair-breadth in terms of brand recognition. Both are pretty much synonymous with traditional old academia, regardless of them actually carrying out world-class research.
111	* Ivy League schools, in the United States. Research conducted on former students of American universities indicates there are other, less recognized schools that provide education just as good as the Ivy League -- but they don't provide you with a recognizable brand.
112	* The five [[MilitaryAcademy service academies]] in the USA (Army in West Point, Navy in Annapolis, Air Force in Colorado Springs, Coast Guard in New London, and Merchant Marine in Kings Point) also fit as a military example under this trope, especially since one can only be admitted to one by a member of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Congress]]. Additonally, InterserviceRivalry occurs between these five schools, especially between Army and Navy.
113	* Universities of Bologna in Italy, Sorbonne in Paris, France and Salamanca in Spain.
114	* The University of Southern California is often stereotyped as this (but with American football instead of rugby): alumni of their rival UCLA joke that "you can work your way into UCLA, or buy your way into USC". This got less funny after Operation Varsity Blues: of all the families accused by the FBI of bribing their children into college, more than half bribed USC, and the university's image is still recovering. (Funnily enough, USC is located right next to the infamous [[{{Gangsterland}} South Central]], while UCLA is located close to super-rich Beverly Hills)
115	* St Andrews University is the Scottish version, generally associated with the upper classes, and quick to tell you it's 170 years older than the University of Edinburgh (which has elements of this as well).
116	* Insofar as a university in Israel can be considered old - none are older than a hundred years - Hebrew University in Jerusalem fills this role nicely.
117
118	Any of these may overlap with a WizardingSchool, BoardingSchoolOfHorrors or an occult-filled [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Miskatonic University]]. Will undoubtedly overlap with PoliticallyMotivatedTeacher.
119
120	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] a Platform/WiiU title about scarecrows, or a [[LeetLingo chatspeak]] version of saying that [[TheWarOnStraw a strawman]] [[ThisLoserIsYou is you]].
121	----
122	!!Examples:
123
124	[[foldercontrol]]
125
126	[[folder:Comic Books]]
127	* In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan1963'', Peter Parker's Empire State University is characterized as a Berserkeley as on two separate occasions he's forced to contend with liberal protestors stirring up trouble. The first time in #38 is PlayedForLaughs (and gets a CallBack in ''ComicBook/MightyAvengers'' where Peter comments that his negative attitude towards them was due to an Creator/AynRand phase he was going through [[Creator/SteveDitko at the time]]), the second time is PlayedForDrama as it's part of an EvilPlan by Kingpin to cause a riot as a diversion for his heist.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
131	* ''Film/{{PCU}}'', in the film of that name, somehow manages to be both. The campus is, shall we say, ''polarized''. This trope was basically the entire point of the movie.
132	* Faber College from ''National Lampoon's Film/AnimalHouse'' is a Jim Jonestown University. Politics and religion don't come into play, thank God, but it's definitely a stuffy and stodgy place without Delta House's WackyFratboyHijinx. Toward the end of the movie, the Deltas also go on a road trip and pick up some women at a 'socially activist' women's college that is hinted at being a 1950s/early '60s version of Berserkeley. The movie takes place in 1962, two years before the free-speech movement, when Berserkeley was still an UnbuiltTrope.
133	* Not a college, but American Eagle Christian High School from the film ''Film/{{Saved}}'' qualifies as a Jim Jonestown HighSchool.
134	* In Creator/JohnSingleton's college drama ''Film/HigherLearning'', Columbus University is obviously supposed to be a stand-in for one of the University of California campuses -- but the faculty, as represented by Professor Phipps, are actually quite reasonable folks who aren't angry at the world. A disproportionate number of the students, however, appear to be unhinged militants in full-blown Berserkeley mode, screaming everything from "White power!" (even the neo-Nazis come off as lefties in this movie, thanks to their constant rants about reverse discrimination) to "Dead men don't rape!" and calling the school's namesake "nothing but a thief and a murderer." Even the 'good guys' are misguided: one student, dismayed at the gang violence, organizes a school-wide "Peace Fest". It doesn't end well.
135	* In ''Film/IronMan'', Tony Stark asks the annoying (but not evil) liberal journalist if she graduated from Berkeley (she actually went to Brown).
136	* In the ''Film/VanWilder'' prequel, Coolidge College is portrayed as a Jim Jonestown University. Van is able to turn things upside down by the end of the film, of course.
137	* The TropeNamer for Berzerkeley is actually name checked in the opening narration of ''[[Film/ThePrincessDiaries Princess Diaries 2]]''-- [[GranolaGirl Lilly]] naturally is going to college there (though we don't see her there).
138	* ''Film/GodsNotDeadALightInDarkness'': Hadleigh University, as with the first film. Of course, it's the same one which employed Professor Radisson. Apparently tons of students are opposed to the very existence of a church on its grounds.
139	* Referenced in ''Film/ZombielandDoubleTap'' with a hippie who goes by Berkeley. The very name causes the hippie-hating Tallahassee to fly into a rage.
140	* ''Film/FreshmanYear'': Professor Thomas exists solely to make negative comments about Christianity and act in a hostile manner to Christian protagonist CJ. Bonus points for saying an evolution textbook serves as the class' "Bible" (not that this makes sense in a social studies class). Most of the other students seem interested in sex and drinking more than anything else (though that is somewhat realistic), with CJ falling into the temptations as well.
141	* ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' plays up the contrast between Zuckerberg (who thinks he's on the Sokal) and his classmates (who realize it's really more of an Oxbridge). While he codes, the others engage in business circles networking or take part in various odd rituals and traditions.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Jokes]]
145	* This is a common joke about Universities in UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}: How many students does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer (or at least a variation thereof) depends on the school:
146	-->Glasgow University: 96\
147	One to change the lightbulb, fifty to protest the light bulb's right not to change, twenty to hold a counter-protest, and another twenty-five to produce a pamphlet saying that we would have solar-powered [=LEDs=] that never need changing but for big business and [[{{Eagleland}} U.S. foreign policy.]][[note]]Mocking the tendency of Glasgow students, [[ViolentGlaswegian being Glasgow students]], to be extremely politicized and very left-wing.[[/note]]\
148	Dundee: 10\
149	One to buy and fit the bulb and nine to petition for the electrification of Dundee.[[note]]Mocking Dundee's status as the WretchedHive of Scotland.[[/note]]\
150	Caledonian: 7\
151	One to change the lightbulb and six to throw a party because he didn't screw it in upside down this time.[[note]]Mocking the pitifully low entrance requirements and generally poor academic reputation of Glasgow Cally.[[/note]]\
152	Strathclyde: 5\
153	One to design a nuclear-powered bulb that never needs changing, one to figure out how to power the rest of Scotland using that nuked lightbulb, two to install it [[ComplexityAddiction and one to write the computer programme that controls the switch]].[[note]]Mocking/complimenting the perceived extreme nerdiness and focus on sciences of Strathclyde (it's basically Scotland's MIT -- or at least it would like to think so!).[[/note]]\
154	St Andrews: 5\
155	One to arrange the party, two to coordinate the press, one to call the electrician and one to get Daddy to pay for it all.[[note]]Mocking the tendency of St Andrews students to be [[UpperClassTwit rich, spoiled and incompetent in matters unrelated to academia or self-publicity]].[[/note]]\
156	Heriot Watt: 3\
157	One to change it and two to figure out how to get high off the old one.[[note]]Mocking a perceived stoner culture at Heriot Watt.[[/note]]\
158	Aberdeen: 2\
159	One to change the light bulb and one to crack under the pressure.[[note]]Mocking the high dropout rate.[[/note]]\
160	Napier: 1\
161	He gets ten course credits for it.[[note]]Mocking Napier's previous status as a polytechnic (basically a community college for our transatlantic mates).[[/note]]\
162	Edinburgh: 1\
163	He holds the bulb and the world revolves around him.[[note]]Mocking [[AwesomeEgo the gravity-defying arrogance of Edinburgh students.]][[/note]]\
164	Stirling: 0\
165	Stirling looks better in the dark.[[note]]Mocking the dismal architecture and poor accommodations of Stirling.[[/note]]
166	* Students across the pond have a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/rva/comments/1p6bx9/how_many_virginia_college_students_does_it_take/ variation for Virginia schools:]]
167	-->Christopher Newport University students: 360\
168	One to change the bulb and 359 upperclassmen to bitch about how they got screwed over by housing.[[note]]Due to a large influx of students in recent years, the school has been forced to economize through a housing lottery, leaving several students out.[[/note]]\
169	Eastern Mennonite University students: 2\
170	One to hold the candle, and the other to strike the flint.[[note]]A trade school in Harrisonburg affiliated with the Mennonites, similar in beliefs to the UsefulNotes/{{Amish}} (but more integrated into mainstream American culture). This distinction is either lost by many, or ignored due to RuleOfFunny.[[/note]]\
171	George Mason students: 3\
172	If they get lucky and one of them has taken the course at NOVA.[[note]]Until recently, GMU was a commuter school for people who wanted to stay in proximity to the nation's capital. "NOVA" refers to the local community college, where many Mason students spend their first two years.[[/note]]\
173	Hampden-Sydney students: 5\
174	One to actually change the light bulb, and four to figure out how this could get some Longwood girls to come over.[[note]]HSU is one of the last true [[AlwaysMale all-boy schools]] in the US. Living in close proximity to Sweet Briar (all-female) and Longwood (coed) leads to [[YouNeedToGetLaid sexual tension]].[[/note]]\
175	Hollins College students: 0\
176	That's what maids are for.[[note]]All-girls school in Roanoke. Known for {{Rich Bitch}}es.[[/note]]\
177	James Madison students: 0\
178	Harrisonburg doesn't have electricity yet.[[note]]Located in the heart of UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}}, JMU is known for faulty wiring and improper maintenance.[[/note]]\
179	Liberty University students: 0\
180	God said "let there be light" and all was good, and no one questions Falwell.[[note]]As seen above, one of the original "Jim Jones U" institutions... though the school has become noticeably less legalistic since Jerry Falwell's (Sr.) passing.[[/note]]\
181	Longwood students: 0\
182	The Farmville Super UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} has fluorescent lighting.[[note]]Another middle of nowhere school with only one flicker of civilization.[[/note]]\
183	Mary Baldwin students: 4\
184	One to change the light bulb, and three to figure out [[MRSDegree how it will help them meet their future husband]].[[note]]Another all-girls school.[[/note]]\
185	Mary Washington students: The Whole Student Body\
186	There’s nothing better to do on the weekends.[[note]]Fredericksburg is a victim of SmallTownBoredom.[[/note]]\
187	Old Dominion students: 4\
188	Two to change the bulb, and two to figure out how to get high off the old one.[[note]]A party school known for higher than normal recreational drug use.[[/note]]\
189	Radford students: 1\
190	But it takes six years.[[note]]Radford has a low Academic Progress Rate and a high amount of teaching degrees. This means students stay longer and are viewed less favorably than elsewhere.[[/note]]\
191	Randolph–Macon students: 0\
192	They’ll just drink in the dark.[[note]]An affordable, non-reputable college noted for student laziness.[[/note]]\
193	Sweet Briar students: 4\
194	One to change the bulb, and three to call up daddy and cry and complain about how awful the whole experience was.[[note]]Considered the DistaffCounterpart to Hampden–Sydney, Sweet Briar is an all-girls school known for standard preppiness.[[/note]]\
195	University of UsefulNotes/{{Richmond\|Virginia}} students: 2\
196	One to mix the martinis and one to call the electrician.[[note]]While by no means as preppy as some of these other schools listed here, is still a fancy private school located on a beautiful countryside.[[/note]]\
197	UVA students: 1\
198	He just holds the bulb and lets the world revolve around him.[[note]]UVA, called a "Public Ivy", has students noted for their AwesomeEgo, pretentious nature, and fabulous wealth.[[/note]]\
199	VCU students: 0\
200	Downtown Richmond looks better in the dark.[[note]]Richmond is called a WretchedHive by Northerners.[[/note]]\
201	VMI students: 4\
202	One Rat to actually change the bulb, one upperclassman to yell at him for not doing it fast enough, one to yell at him for not using the proper wattage, and one to send him up to the Rat Disciplinary Committee for letting the bulb burn out in the first place.[[note]]One of the premier military academies in America. "Rat" is the name for underclass privates, and the regiments take their jobs ''[[{{SeriousBusiness}} very seriously]]''.[[/note]]\
203	Virginia Tech students : 3\
204	One to change the bulb, and two to discuss how they did it just as well as a UVA student.[[note]]A polytechnic institute with a massive inferiority complex in the shadow of the prestigious UVA.[[/note]]\
205	Washington and Lee students: 4\
206	One to change the bulb, three to write up a complaint to the board of directors stating that they could have gone to a better school if they had wanted to.[[note]]As a highly selective school, the students there are very privileged and very pressured, leading to an InferioritySuperiorityComplex.[[/note]]\
207	William and Mary students: 3\
208	One to change the bulb, and two to crack under the pressure.[[note]]One of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the United States. Also the one with the [[{{BreadEggsMilkSquick}} highest campus suicide rate]].[[/note]]
209	* A similar thing holds true [[https://sites.cs.ucsb.edu/~ravenben/humor/lightbulbs for American schools outside of Virginia]]:
210	-->Columbia students: 76\
211	One to change the lightbulb, fifty to protest the lightbulb's right to not change, and twenty-five to hold a counter-protest.[[note]]Mocking the perceived left-wing culture of the university.[[/note]]\
212	Duke students: A Whole Frat\
213	But only one of them is sober enough to get the bulb out of the socket.[[note]]Mocking a perceived frat culture at Duke.[[/note]]\
214	Harvard students: 1\
215	He holds the bulb and the world revolves around him.[[note]]Famous private school with rich students with {{Awesome Ego}}s.[[/note]]\
216	MIT students: 5\
217	One to design a nuclear-powered one that never needs changing, one to figure out how to power the rest of Boston using that nuked lightbulb, two to install it, and one to write the computer program that controls the wall switch.[[note]]Famous school of science and technology.[[/note]]\
218	Kenyon students: 0\
219	Couldn't find the campus.[[note]]Kenyon College is located in the middle of Ohio farmland with only one flicker of civilization nearby.[[/note]]\
220	[[/folder]]
221
222	[[folder:Literature]]
223	* The titular school in Creator/NealStephenson novel ''Literature/TheBigU'' manages to avoid either extreme version of Strawman U, but the SUB and the unionized professors would fit in well at a Berserkeley, and the administration and Temple of Unlimited Godhead (a fundamentalist Mormon offshoot) are close to a Jim Jonestown.
224	* Taken past the point of parody by ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' where several colleges compete to out-liberal each other by, among other things, holding classes on Lesbian contributions to 18th Century tactics and female oppression throughout history, building a temple to Artemis and forcing male students to prostrate before it, holding gay orgies, and having white male students confess to racism, sexism, homophobia etc. and wearing humiliating signs. Ultimately, the problem is solved by killing all the Marxist college professors and instituting one true, righteous university of the Western Canon.
225	* In ''Literature/TheSilverChair'', Creator/CSLewis gives us a proto-Berserkeley in the form of Experiment House, where the {{kid hero}}es Eustace and Jill go. The faculty, fancying themselves modern and progressive, allow bullies to run wild, creating a hellish environment for other students. Earlier on, ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' hints that either Experiment House or another BoardingSchoolOfHorrors contributed to Edmund's spiteful behavior as after his HeelFaceTurn, his sister Lucy observes that he looks better than he has "since his first term at that horrid school which was where he had begun to go wrong."
226	* In the ''Literature/JessicaChrist'' series, Texas State University is portrayed as a combination of both. The bulk of the student body seems to be half obnoxious, self-righteous Christians who scream about persecution any time their religion is implied to not be 100% right about everything, and half obnoxious, self-righteous atheists who scream about persecution any time they have to hear anyone so much as mention religion. Jessica, being the once-begotten daughter of God, naturally [[AllTheOtherReindeer ends up on the wrong side of both crowds.]]
227	* ''Literature/TriggerWarning'' follows a big, manly, conservative military veteran going to a college filled with [[StrawPolitical sissy liberals]] of every variety: manbun-wearing hipsters, scrawny Antifa thugs, hypocritical feminists, professors who are clueless about the real world, and so forth. Needless to say, our bad ass hero beats some sense into these wimps when he's not saving their lives from terrorists.
228	* Literature/HarryPotter:
229	** Durmstrang Institute appears to be a fantastical {{Uberwald}}ian Jim Jonestown, with a former [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Death Eater]] for a headmaster, a [[FantasticRacism discriminatory policy]] excluding [[MageBornOfMuggles Muggle-born]] students, and a curriculum that teaches TheDarkArts (while Hogwarts only teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts). ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' reveals that PredecessorVillain Gellert Grindelwald, the most dreaded EvilSorcerer before [[BigBad Voldemort]], went here until he got expelled for delving a bit ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards too]]'' far into BlackMagic. On the other hand some of the students are decent people, including beloved athlete Viktor Krum, who visits Hogwarts in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' along with Durmstrang's other candidates for the Triwizard Tournament.
230	** The other delegation at the tournament comes from a French WizardingSchool called Beauxbatons that seems more in the St. Old Geezer the Posh mold, as evidenced by Fleur Delacour's snooty disparagement of Hogwarts, itself a thousand-year-old British BoardingSchool located in a literal castle!
231	** Within Hogwarts, which is an AbsurdlyDividedSchool due to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_system house system]], Slytherin is treated as the Jim Jonestown house. Okay, on paper Slytherin is associated with ambition and strategy, but [[AmbitionIsEvil in practice]] Slytherin is seen as the home of bullying, [[FantasticCasteSystem elitist]] villains. (To be fair the other houses have their share of bad eggs too, and later in the series we meet some decent Slytherins.) Meanwhile, Ravenclaw House has more of a Sokal reputation, given that Ravenclaw students are selected for intelligence, though this can also take the form of eccentric outside-the-box thinkers like Luna Lovegood (and the occasional deluded egomaniac like Gilderoy Lockhart, who merely ''presents'' himself as talented -- one interpretation is that the Sorting Hat cares as much about which attributes you value as which you possess). The other two houses are less associated with specific Strawman U tropes: Gryffindor is the {{badass}} house, while {{Hufflepuff\|House}} is theoretically associated with loyalty and diligence but in practice is stereotyped (both InUniverse and among much of the fandom, despite giving us some decidedly cool characters like Cedric Diggory and Nymphadora Tonks) as the miscellaneous StrawLoser house.
232	[[/folder]]
233
234	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
235	* Mentioned in an episode of ''Series/DharmaAndGreg'' to show [[BourgeoisBohemian the grandparents']] personalities. The biological mother of the title couple's adopted son wants him back, and the grandparents (a pair of [=WASPs=] and a pair of hippies) have this discussion:
236	-->'''Kitty:''' We'll tie her up in court. By the time she gets Daniel back he'll be graduating from Stanford.\
237	'''Edward:''' Notre Dame.[[note]]Although Notre Dame is far from a WASP bastion—it's the best-known Catholic school in the US—Edward is a Notre Dame graduate in-universe.[[/note]]\
238	'''Larry:''' Berkeley.\
239	'''Abby:''' Oberlin.
240	* ''Series/FakingIt'' has a Strawman High in Hester High School, a school that's so progressive, the outcasts are the in crowd, the coolest kid in school is gay, and the girl who would be the AlphaBitch at most schools is at the bottom of the social ladder. And the principal? Went to Berkeley. Also, the school's in Austin.
241	* On ''Series/{{Awkward}}'', Jenna visits a university that she expects to be like the "Berserkley" stereotype but is more of a generic state school (though not to the level of Jim Jonestown).
242	* ''Series/ChicagoJustice'': The university in "Comma" is portrayed as having serious aspects of this. A group of conservative students advocating the right to carry concealed handguns on campus (for protection against school shootings) clashes with a left-wing professor and his followers. This turns out to have caused a murder. Granted, a professor ranting in class and students getting in trouble for passing out copies of the US Constitution is based on real incidents.
243	[[/folder]]
244
245	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
246	* In the early years of ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'', Walden College was a Berserkley variety.
247	[[/folder]]
248
249	[[folder:Theatre]]
250	* If you think this is just a modern phenomenon, [[OlderThanFeudalism you're wrong]]. In Creator/{{Aristophanes}}' ''Theatre/TheClouds'', Creator/{{Socrates}} is running an ancient Greek Berserkeley and we see a debate with a straw conservative from another school.
251	* Extreme Jim Jonestown example: The 'University' in Sarah Kane's play ''Cleansed'' is really a concentration camp, run by the evil Tinker, where there are peepholes in the showers [[spoiler:that lead to Tinker's private viewing room, for his pleasure]], and students are tortured by Tinker and his goons.
252	[[/folder]]
253
254	[[folder:Video Games]]
255	* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' has both -- Benthic College is Berserkeley (to the point of having a few devils on its roster) while Summerset College is a Jim Jonestown University.
256	[[/folder]]
257
258	[[folder:Webcomics]]
259	* Sam from ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' attends a school which is some sort of pre-Berserkley Hipster Central; as Faye describes Sam’s apparent freedom to attend or not as she sees fit, “that’s the most Pioneer Valley thing I ever heard”
260	* ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'' includes Anderson U in its background detail, a minor fundamentalist Christian college briefly attended by at least one of the Joyce/Becky circle.
261	[[/folder]]
262
263	[[folder:Web Original]]
264	* The Literature/AtheistProfessorCopypasta is a group of fundamentalist Christian UrbanLegends about a student humiliating a smug HollywoodAtheist professor in an argument; Rational Wiki has a whole [[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Atheist_professor_myth article]] full of them. One popular variant ends with the TomatoSurprise that the victorious student was a young UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein, which led to the phrase "And his name? Albert Einstein!" becoming a meme in New Atheist circles.
265	[[/folder]]
266
267	[[folder:Western Animation]]
268	* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Die, Hippie, Die" features an invasion of hippies, the main group of which has a University of Berkeley bumper sticker. One of them continually calls people "little Eichmanns," a reference to controversial (and discredited) professor Ward Churchill, who used the phrase to describe some (not all) of the American victims of 9/11. It's up to Cartman, his [[DrillTank Hippie Digger]], and a disc full of Music/{{Slayer}} songs to stop the chaos.
269	** Side note: Ward Churchill was a professor at Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone's school -- the University of Colorado at Boulder (another example of a Berserkley), though it's unknown whether they ever attended a class he taught, and [[OldShame they would probably not be eager to admit it if they did]].
270	** Side note #2: During the Colorado-Nebraska football game in 2007,[[note]]The two schools, until 2010, played a nationally televised rivalry game every Black Friday. The matchup returned in 2018.[[/note]] Eric Cartman introduced the Colorado starters. He takes a moment [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3p3uq after announcing the defensive secondary]] to take a shot at Boulder's hippie population.[[note]]Colorado won the 2007 game 65-51.[[/note]]
271	* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "The D in Apartment 23" used this trope as a ludicrously un-subtle TakeThat towards college liberals and Millennials in general. Brian and Stewie visit a college where the students are protesting in demand that two professors be fired: one because he "didn't immediately overreact" to a transphobic comment, and the other because [[InsaneTrollLogic he committed a "microagression" by telling his students to "have a nice day".]] Stewie even offhandedly mentions that [[WriterOnBoard protesting is the only thing preventing these students from staring at their cell phones all day]] ([[{{Anvilicious}} there's even a beat as Stewie stares directly into the camera immediately after saying this, as if to make sure we get the joke]]), and Brian and Stewie have a brief conversation before the camera pans out to reveal [[StealthHiBye that the protesting students have vanished]] (presumably because they're lazy).
272	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' provided a few examples in the later seasons.
273	** One episode has Mr. Burns visiting Yale and discovering that it has become a Berserkeley-type school, with professors [[FelonyMisdemeanor being fired for such offenses as celebrating Columbus Day or using male pronouns when talking about God.]]
274	** The Treehouse of Horror short "Wanted: Dead then Alive" has Sideshow Bob becoming a professor at a college whose student body is made up entirely of lazy, uncultured hipsters.
275	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' at one point featured "West Coast Tech", a school ''so'' horribly elitist that its representatives will dismiss a student's PerpetualMotionMachine at a single glance.[[note]]Granted, there were extenuating circumstances, but many viewers have pointed out that any RealLife representatives with half a brain would at least look at the thing's documentation before writing it off as a failure or a hoax.[[/note]]
276	[[/folder]]

Context Main / StrawmanU