Douglas Belkin:

When Donald Trump was first elected president, universities set out milk and cookies for rattled undergraduates. College students who wore MAGA hats were berated by classmates.

This time around those same hats are eliciting fist bumps and nods.

College conservatism hasn’t gone mainstream on left-leaning campuses. But the stigma against Republicans is lifting.

Supporters of the new president on campus say they now feel more comfortable acknowledging one another in public. And membership at long-moribund college Republican clubs around the country is up, according to interviews with students at a dozen schools.

Driving the momentum is a cohort of outspoken conservative men. Some trade crypto and are members of fraternities. But many are more in line with traditional conservatives; they are religious and eschew college sweats for ties and blazers. A disproportionate number are focused on business, computer science and public policy. Some aspire to work in Washington, D.C.