2021 By the Numbers

Lifestyle & Ideology

Political Alignment

Cornellians overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, November polling by The Cornell Daily Sun revealed, and our data suggest that the Class of 2021 wouldn’t have polled much differently. The leftward sway of Cornell’s campus is not a secret, and, from the looks of our data, the Class of 2021 probably won’t be the one to initiate the conservative revolution.

Virgin Status

68.9 percent of our respondents are virgins. And that’s okay. See, if The Cornell Daily Sun were The Harvard Crimson, we’d make fun of you all. But, we’re not, and that’s because at Cornell, we actually accept people for who they are. The beautiful thing is that, for many Cornellians, a learning experience awaits, and this is more than Harvard can say.

Sexuality

Of those who responded to this question, 78.6 percent said they were heterosexual and 21.4 percent said they were bisexual, homosexual or other. For those 21.4 percent, and even for those not in the 21.4 percent, Cornell’s LGBT Resource Center, located at 626 Thurston Ave (“six-two-six”), could be an important, helpful place. Unfortunately for the resource center, it recently lost its director, Brian Patchcoski, to Penn State. Widely respected while at Cornell, Patchcoski will direct the LGBTQA resource center at Penn State’s 46,606-student University Park campus.

Non-heterosexuals, our data suggest, were less interested in joining Greek life than heterosexuals. These findings come in the midst of a recent push by leaders in Greek life to develop inclusivity initiatives, the leaders pledging “to tear down much of the tradition and toxic culture that exists within fraternity and sorority life.” The issue has recently drifted into The Sun’s opinion pages, where student columnists and alumni guests have gone back and forth on whether Greek life should continue to exist in its current form and even whether Greek life should exist at all.

Alcohol Drinkers

The majority of our respondents indicated they drink socially, and many who drink socially indicated they “definitely” or “probably” will join Greek life. Read on to find out how strong the connection between social drinking and desire to join Greek life is.

Religiosity

Founded with no religious affiliation, Cornell brings in a freshman class whose religiosity is mostly low, with the predominant religious outlook being “extremely not religious.” These areligious tendencies mirror national associations between liberal political ideology and lack of attendance at religious services, both of which describe our Class of 2021 survey respondents.