Posted on 05/14/2006 10:57:59 AM PDT by dukeman
New College conservative carves a niche on campus
The first time I heard the term "openly Republican" was the first day of freshman orientation at New College. My initial reaction was to laugh. Prior to this, I had only heard terms like "openly" and "closet" when referring to personal qualities that go against the social norm. I always considered being a member of either of the two main parties to be relatively normal, as the majority of Americans register with one of the two. But that all was soon to change. Even the definition of normal changed, the day I went to a "normal meeting" only to discover it was actually a weekly club meeting of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. That first day of my eclectic college education, I passed a milestone. I became one of the first students at New College to "come out of the closet" about my conservative beliefs. Think "throwing snowballs into hell."
I knew New College was a liberal school before enrolling, an institution somewhere between Berkeley and Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Wash. Academia has always had the reputation of being a liberal haven, and to borrow an old saw, "If you are not liberal in college then you do not have a heart, and if you are not a conservative by age 40 then you do not have any money." Apparently I was the only heartless person on campus, and now everyone knew it on the first day of school.
To balance representation on campus, and to be able to list the club on the school's Web site, I founded my own chapter of the College Republicans. For the first year, it boasted an astounding one member. The club (I) agreed to participate in a campuswide debate on party platforms alongside the College Democrats and the New College Greens. Interestingly enough, the Greens are still the most prevalent political party on campus, even getting Ralph Nader to speak on campus during his last campaign. For the debate, I needed a second member to help argue points on rebuttals, so I bribed my self-proclaimed Stalinist friend with some beer and chips to "play Republican for the day." The subsequent debate turned out to be one of the most controversial and talked about events in recent school history.
After publicly debating on behalf of my values, my presence on campus was quite contentious. It was as if I had invaded the hippie Mecca and was poking their Kaaba with a stick. My room balcony was showered with daily gifts from rotten watermelons to a half-eaten Caesar salad. Students began talking about the new political "turmoil." How dare a conservative come to school here? Involved political discussions with my classmates became an integral part of my daily routine. Even professors engaged me in political discussions.
At one point, I considered changing schools to a more traditional university. I had been working closely with the University of Florida College Republicans and their 600 or so members, and contemplated what life would be like there. Vegan burgers and tofu jerky are probably not main items on the lunch menu there, and the ratio of burning effigies of George Bush to students is probably lower. Luckily, I decided to stick it out after I realized the one-of-a-kind opportunities that lay before me, behind enemy lines. I had the chance to get inside the heads of a people completely alien to me and see how they work. What a great way to better understand my own ethics through discussion with my adversaries.
Three years later, things have changed. There are a growing number of open Republicans on campus (last count was over a dozen), and each year prospective students (moreover their concerned traditional parents) ask the admissions representatives about our club. I no longer get offerings on my balcony or in the bed of my truck, and it has been awhile since anyone has screamed in the hallways at me about politics. There are still plenty of hippie dance protests and anti-SUV campaigns, and while the majority of the time I totally disagree with the protesters and feel they are wasting their time, I have grown to accept them. After living with these curious liberal creatures, I understand them and can fully appreciate their existence, and they do likewise. The political temperament on campus has switched from attack-based and anti-Republican to being focused on individual issues. My rivals now have a face to associate with when they think of "evil Republican ideals." It is the face of a person who understands them, lives with them, parties with them, and respects them. They are no longer my rivals; they are friends with different backgrounds and beliefs than mine. In our own little bubble, the archliberals can coexist in peace with the archconservatives. All it took was for each of us to cast aside our stereotypes, sit down, and listen to each other.
Bryson Voirin is a student at Sarasota's New College of Florida. He has a double major in Biology and Environmental Studies, and works full time with rain forest expert Dr. Meg Lowman on canopy research. He is the recipient of a prestigious Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship. E-mail: James.Voirin@ncf.edu
LOL!!
"Openly Republican". That's beautiful.
Might just print that out and make some sort of bumper sticker for my American car.
I love it.
More evidence of liberals becoming violent when their views aren't worshiped. It makes it obvious why liberals fear conservatives, calling them Fascists, etc. They are afraid that conservatives will act like themselves.
It is a bit hard to tell what OPENLY REPUBLICAN means any more. Liberal? Conservative? Moderate? At least when you say LIBERAL or DEMOCRAT, you know exactly what you are getting --- :-)
Must mean there are closeted conservatives. Imagine the horrors when liberal parents find out.
I'm one of the few conservative "Republicans" (if that's how I must be described instead of pro freedom, pro Democracy, or pro science, pro reality, pro rational thought, pro self survival, pro American, pro common sense, anti-Islamofascism, etc.)among a group of predictable (intolerant, smug, arrogant, condescending) "liberals" and one of my friends and I were talking about Dennis Prager one day and my friend (who's Jewish) described Prager as a "Jewish Republican" (whatever that means).
Some the local neighbors and friends describe me as
a Republican as if that's odd. They're so predicatbly intolerant and smug.
A good buddy of mine from high school and college is Jewish and a Republican. Duing the mid-80's he lived in NYC. He dated a woman who worked in set design for television. She told him when they went out with her friends he couldn't disclose that he was a Republican (they had never seen or been near one before and she didn't know how they would react).
It was one thing to disagree, it was another to attack non sensically without creating a forum for discussion-which was non existant, even though that school touts seminars for students to discuss as a big feature. What usually ends up is that they discuss what the faculty is comfortable with and 99.9% are either commies, socialist or just plain ole' Dems.
I pray other college students have the courage to fight back as we move forward. Ironically this may happen on some of the most liberal campuses in the country-mainly because--whether one agrees with the liberals or not, NOT!-- those colleges can attract very political minded people and if even one turns around, they can be of help to challenge and make other libs think through issues from a conservative perspective.
Their voices will become strong as they will have to fight in the trenches. They also have a story of change that people like to listen too--they have been a liberal and now they know exactly why they are conservative. I am sure that there were many more conservatives that kept their mouth shut in that school as well--now that I have been on the receiving end in graduate school of being conservative in a very liberal environment.
I love that James has always been a devout conservative though, cudos! Smart guy! Because he didn't flinch he created change.
I remember being at a party once with (literally) 100% all liberal academic types. It was like going on a foreign vacation.
They all sounded like clones. It was so strange.
Now, I understand that the vast majority of the faculty and a majority of the students at Yale have gone over to the dark side. I also gather that honest debate has given way to emotional attacks and insults. A sad fate for a once-great university.
I have deep admiration for this writer for going onto this campus, swimming against the stream, and making a serious mark. It certainly has not been easy for him.
P.S. My primary is over, but because of certain legal and ethical problems, the incumbent, Charles Taylor may withdraw/be forced out, and I am in the running to be chosen as the replacement nominee for Congress in the 11th District of NC. For more information, see the article below, and my website. I still need your help.
Congressman Billybob
Groupthink. It never occurs to these diehard liberals that they may have been brainwashed, which IMO is what is happening at most institutions of "higher learning."
I spend at least one day a month on campus at New College. It has a remarkable scholastic reputation and its curriculum is driven by students. Certainly a Berkely of the East Coast, James and others are breaking down the stereotype of educated as Marxist. It never was anyway.
You go, James.
It really is hard to overstate the foaming-at-the-mouth, liberal moonbat character of the New College campus. We're talkin' Cindy Sheehan worshippers! It is very different from the surrounding community.
I've never liked this saying. I was well on my way to shedding my liberal brainwashing when I entered high school. It's been nothing but a journey to the right since then. I always thought of people who were liberal when they were 20 or older as either being stupid, naive, willfully uninformed, out of touch with reality, condescending, narrow-minded, smug, paternalistic, racist, a power-hungry liar, or some combination of those things.
I've been Jewish and a Conservative my whole life, so dating in NY was a challenge. I've told this story before, but I was set up with a good looking,Jewish Doctor..the whole package (Mom would have been ecstatic!). We sit down to dinner and, of course, the subject of politics came up and he told me he was supporting Jesse Jackson for President (this was the 80's). I got up, told him we obviously have nothing in common, so why waste each other's time. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done.
I think the university system in America is the root of America's downfall.
He probably is poking a stick in the eye of the "enviromental studies" type in that discipline, so more power to him. Just the same, a very well written article - I hope he keeps writing.
The irony is those who most loudly demand "diversity", all sound exactly alike.
Agreed. I think it's a serious problem, not just an idea for intellectual discussion.
You make a great point. Political diversity is unacceptable to them. I once attended a very liberal state university and know this mindset well.
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