Why is Athens, GA so liberal compared to other Deep South college towns?

[GAinDC]

There’s a very large music and arts scene that strongly contributes to the culture of the city.

The southern sorority/fraternity kids who are more conservative just go to school there and move away when they graduate, only coming back for game days. The folks who stay there after graduation or the people who choose to move there tend to be the more creative types. Some call them “townies” lol

Source: I went to college there

[GAinDC]

There’s a very large music and arts scene that strongly contributes to the culture of the city.

The southern sorority/fraternity kids who are more conservative just go to school there and move away when they graduate, only coming back for game days. The folks who stay there after graduation or the people who choose to move there tend to be the more creative types. Some call them “townies” lol

Source: I went to college there

Are sorority/frat kids necessarily more Conservative/Republican than their college peers? Basing off stereotypes of privilidged white kids who came from money and just came to college to party, it would make sense. The reality though is that at least these days, those people make a up a minority of frats and sororities, with many being oriented around community service and even activism traditionally associated with D-leaning politics.

At UGA they are way more conservative. They serve as insular, exclusive, wealthy and largely white institutions. Most of the greek kids I knew in college were more conservative — if they were political at all. Many come from prominent families in small towns in rural GA, or from very wealthy ATL suburbs. Many hosted charity events, and actually did a lot of good, but I’m not sure either political party has a monopoly on philanthropy.

Of course, I was in college 10-15 years ago. It may be different, but back then sororities and fraternities were conservative bastions, and it was only a question of how conservative.

[GAinDC]

There’s a very large music and arts scene that strongly contributes to the culture of the city.

The southern sorority/fraternity kids who are more conservative just go to school there and move away when they graduate, only coming back for game days. The folks who stay there after graduation or the people who choose to move there tend to be the more creative types. Some call them “townies” lol

Source: I went to college there

This is something that goes misunderstood about college town politics in general, I feel.  Undergrads (in as much as they even vote where they go to school) are not the base of Democratic support.  It's the townies and university staff/faculty.  This is especially appreciable at UGA, where the "conservative" undergrad culture contrasts with liberal Athens.

The Khaki Line be a thing for real.

Absolutely. In Athens, there was even a line of demarcation for the bars in downtown. The bars on the east side were more likely to serve tequila shots and jager bombs to preppy kids, while the bars on the west side served craft beer and cocktails to hipsters.