College freshmen are more liberal today than at any time in recent history, according to a study released Monday by UCLA.

The 2001 survey showed 30 percent of students considered themselves liberal or “far left.” Researchers said the peak came at the height of anti-war sentiment in 1971, when 41 percent of students claimed to be liberal.

Experts at UW-Madison said the news does not come as a surprise and that UW has always been considered a liberal campus.

“Most people believe college freshmen are apolitical,” UW political science professor Don Kettl said. “But people have always suspected Madison as extremely liberal.”

The American Freshman Survey reported 281,064 responses from 421 four-year colleges and universities. Students were asked their opinion on a variety of modern controversial issues. According to the survey, which began in 1966, a record 57.9 percent of students believe same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status. Over one-third believe marijuana should be legalized, and almost as many advocate ending capital punishment.

Kurt Ellison, member of the student activist group UW Greens, believes those percentages are not reflective of UW.

“I would say if you polled this campus you would get much higher numbers,” he said. “From personal experience, we’re getting more people at meetings and we’ve doubled our e-mail list since last year.”

Researchers said the trend has been increasing steadily for five years.

“Although students are less likely to identify themselves as ‘liberal’ than they were in the early 1970s, the popularity of the liberal label has increased for five consecutive years and is at its highest point since 1975,” said Linda Sax, UCLA education professor and director of the survey.

Ellison said he believes there are a number of reasons for the rise.

“I would probably credit the growing national interest of globalization and the last presidential election,” he said. “They have made people think and perhaps made them more liberal.”

Interim Dean Roger Howard, who has been at UW for almost three decades, said he has not noticed a change in students’ political views.

“Students here are now and always have been more liberal than the general population,” he said. “I think that’s part of the student experience.”

Other statistics in the survey include that 70 percent of freshmen, more than ever before, said they had socialized with students of another racial or ethnic group in the last year. Also, at 41 percent, more students reported being bored in class.

Howard advised students take the report with a grain of salt.

“I don’t trust surveys that try to sort out the views of students,” he said. “When I talk to students, I find them hard to categorize.”