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What are the political and social leanings of most students and faculty? Is it easy to express opposing views?

It depends on your metric, and what is important to you.  If reproductive rights is your thing, and you bump up against the Catholic position on birth control, then campus will seem very conservative.  Likewise, if you are a conservative Catholic, the Jesuit brand of Catholicism may strike you as liberal.  In my opinion, compared to most other college campuses (which trend liberal), this one is moderate on most political issues, and the conservatism is limited to Catholic doctrine on birth control, etc.  Compared to America as a whole, this place is quite liberal.  But generalizing is not particularly useful.  There are arch-conservatives and arch-liberals here, and (surprise!) they can stand to be in the same room together and even get along.  Many people also have strong opinions on international politics, so in some rings, neo-conservative foreign policy and classical liberalism are going at it, not Republicans and Democrats.  As I was told before I came here, it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you can back it up - and prepare to be challenged.  The nice thing about that is that you can also challenge other people on their views.  Slight exceptions can be found in the prickly territory of race relations and LGBTQ issues - these are touch-and-go, and I think Georgetown's student body could stand to grow up a little bit and tackle these head-on.  But overall, it's a great place to mature intellectually amidst interesting people with interesting views.

I expected Georgetown to be fairly conservative, but guess I must come from a more conservative town than I thought, because I was always surprised by how liberal the discussions were in my Problem of God class.  That said, on my dorm floor, one could always find a broad range of opinions/ideals, from the hippie to the conservative.  The majority were pretty moderate, though, and everyone was respectful of each others' opinions.  It was great to be able to come into the common room and have discussions with such a diverse & intelligent group of people.  Topics were all over the board, from politics in Pakistan & life in a Mennonite community in Texas, to nose piercings & roommate woes.  As for the school as a whole, it is true that one can buy several different types of pregnancy tests on campus, but not condoms (which H*yas for Choice consequently distribute in Red Square on certain days of the week).  I didn't really have any professors pimping their political/social agendas.  Oh, and Christopher Hitchens spoke in Gaston Hall last fall and I was surprised by how well he was received.