During this election, much like the rest of the United States, my small college campus became politically polarized, more so on the left than on the right. While some openly stated their political opinions, others hid theirs, tucked away, nervous about what might exactly happen if the rest of the campus knew where exactly they politically stood. So, over the past year and half my fellow Republican students and I banded together. It was nice, even if for a moment, to be surrounded by those who share your viewpoints, and on my campus it is very far and few between to find a Republican, or at least it seems like that to me. I mean we do have a voice, we just founded a College Republican Chapter on our campus this year, albeit its not a large, popular one.
Dialogue though was created this post election, and the conversation I believe was definitely needed. I was invited by the Diversity Committee to attend the event, I intended to anyways, to help facilitate the discussion in order to broaden both my own and my peer’s viewpoints. This discussion was the icebreaker into having honest conversation about the election, and how as Americans we felt about it. The intention of this first meeting was not to look at policy differences between the two presidential nominees, but rather to understand emotionally how we felt as students holistically, and how we felt on campus.
As I mentioned earlier, Republicans had a voice, but it wasn’t very large. This is because we are the minority on our campus. However, I was given the opportunity to sit on the Diversity Panel, I am proud to say I am now a part of the Diversity Committee, and share to the rest of my campus where I stood emotionally, and how I felt going forward. Was I nervous to sit there, and then to speak to almost a hundred students about how I stood in almost every facet opposite to their political convictions? Yeah, I was. I couldn’t though let my fear prevail, so I took the microphone and through my voice I declared my stance.
It was a nerve racking at first. I spoke slowly to ensure that I was clear with my points, and sometimes my voice wavered in the middle of those points. On that panel, declaring that I was Republican, I realized that I spoke not only for myself, but also for my fellow Republicans on campus, I became the voice of the Republican Party.
I absolutely loved it up there. I was given a chance that we, the political minority, haven’t been given in a very long time, and it gave me a sense of relief to have my thoughts out there without instant repercussion. The dialogue itself, much like I had hoped it would, set out to challenge the individual students and their beliefs. As college students, I believe it is dangerous to operate within a safe space because the comfort prevents us from seeking things that challenge our stance. We don’t want to be told we are wrong, and worse because of this fear we never really become receptive to how others view the world. We become close-minded.
What I look forward to in the future panel discussions is the furthering of the conversation that we started last week. I could see that as the panel spoke and counter viewpoints were expressed that my fellow students and I had come closer to middle ground. It was beautiful to see that in such a contentious, divisive time to see faculty and students come together to blend the narratives in order to understand one another. The conversations and dialogue down the road I foresee being difficult, and may touch on sensitive subjects, but I feel like those things have to be addressed to fully understand how we feel and think. Ignoring those issues, not talking about them, allows them to fester, which inevitably down the road will cause more problems than solutions.
I loved the discussion even if it was hard at some points for myself to openly talk about my viewpoints and feelings as I feel that some of my peers in the audience felt the same about theirs. During these moments of raw emotion are political views are eschewed as our humanity is revealed to all. When this revelation is shown and we discuss what makes us, us we become collectively better because of it. I look forward to the future discussions, and I am thankful that I have been given the opportunity to help facilitate dialogue between my fellow peers.
