Who you voted for in this election does not matter in terms of the topic of this article. What matters is that if you live on a college campus, this election was different for you than it was for someone who doesn’t. Going to college and living on campus sets you in a different environment; in a bubble that is separated from the outside world, from the real world. There is a certain culture on each college campus, and this culture is completely disconnected from the rest of the world.
Every college campus sways one way or the other. Your campus is either liberal or conservative; maybe there’s an in between, but that’s mainly unlikely. If you’re a conservative on a liberal campus, you face backlash; if you’re a liberal on a conservative campus, you face backlash. There’s always going to be someone getting judged for their political views.
The problem with being on a college campus is that I don’t know many college students who are reading or watching the news every day. The typical way to get news is social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook. We see the articles our conservative friends share, and the articles our liberal friends share. Our timelines are a mixture of political opinions and fights, and a lot of us aren’t even sure which articles and which people we’re really supposed to believe.
In the wake of the election, our conservative friends are only choosing to see the articles about those who are against Trump protesting and burning American flags. Our liberal friends are only choosing to see the articles about radical Trump supporters harassing minorities. And these are all problems that are very real.
The problem for us on college campuses is that the culture of hating each other for political opinions is cultivated further because we live on a campus. Hating each other for political opinions is promoted.
We tend to take more radical views when it comes to judging people who don’t have the same beliefs as us. Not even just relating to this election, but for views in general. Genuine conversations about opposing views don’t typically happen on college campuses. Someone is always too quick to get angry with the fact that someone doesn’t see something the same way.
So, is there hope for a change on college campuses? Is there a need for a change?
I think hating our friends because of who they voted for is a problem. I'm sure you have friends who voted for Hillary Clinton and friends who voted for Donald Trump. You probably have friends who voted third party too. But is their character any different just because of who they voted for? Maybe you think so, but maybe the culture of a college campus is forcing you to think that way.
Open conversations about our political differences are hard to have but important to have. Talking about our differing opinions on policies, rather than our differing opinions on the candidates, is important. Being able to discuss our differences brings us closer to being properly educated human beings, and isn't that why we're going to college in the first place?
