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Wisconsin was highly politically active back in the 60s and 70s when my dad went here (I see you guys have noted the bombing story). It's cooled off quite a bit, but there is still a lot of political stuff going on. Madison is a relatively liberal city, and of course being the capital city and home to a huge university only increase the liberalism -- but we have a small-but-vocal faction of conservatives too. The liberals dominate in numbers, but the conservatives are a pretty cohesive group which makes them seem stronger than they are. As a member of the Greek system, I get to witness a lot of these clashes up close -- the Greek system is more conservative than the overall student body, probably split about half and half on each side, so the debates can rage pretty intensely.
It is nothing like it was in the 1960s/1970s though, and I'd guess Berkeley and UMich aren't either. Looking at the yearbooks from that time period is intense -- the anti-war demonstrations, the protests. My dad's told me that sometimes he couldn't even make it to class because the sidewalks were so clogged with protesters, police and tear gas. I think it would have been interesting to be in college back then.
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