“As a college student on a liberal campus I am afforded to opportunity to interact and discuss my opinions with people from all across the political spectrum.”
Wait. That’s not right.
“As a college student on a liberal campus I am afforded the opportunity to speak my mind without fear despite everyone around me having polar tendencies.”
That doesn’t sound right either.
“As a college student on a liberal campus I am afforded the opportunity to talk about my beliefs as long as they line up with everyone else’s otherwise I’m a racist, misogynist, pig who just doesn’t understand why it’s important to create a safe space for every single person who identifies with any background, hobby, or passing interest.”
There we go. That sounds about right.
If you’ve made it this far without clicking the x in the corner or leaving me a nasty message, I applaud you. Well done, pat yourself on the back.
Before I continue, however, I’d like to make clear several things. My personal political beliefs are neither Republican nor Democrat. I avoid identifying with political parties because I find that most issues are not black and white, but something in between. To already set yourself to one side of the spectrum is to approach issues with a preconceived bias towards reality. Everything I put forth, therefore, are my own thoughts.
I go to UCSD, where it is okay to have a student march about tuition hikes, reopening a rundown café, going topless, and just about any cause you can think of, but it’s not okay to write “Tritons 4 Trump” on the ground in washable chalk. In recent weeks UCSD has experienced incidents where Trump supporters have come out to write political messages on the ground in support of their candidate’s policies. Such messages include “Trump 2016” “Build the Wall” and “Adios Illegals.”
While some of these messages have been in poor taste, the student body should not be condemning the behavior and washing it away. As distasteful as the messages are, they are representative of real political stances endorsed by certain members of the Republican Party. Illegal immigration is a sociopolitical and economic reality and those that refuse to acknowledge it and call these messages “hateful” are simply choosing to ignore the debate. Rather than a slew of ad hominem attacks, why not try and enable a healthy discussion? Why not reach out to the groups responsible for the chalking and talk to them? Instead of writing it off as a harmful use of university property, use reason to argue your points and allow them to use reason to argue theirs.
There’s a serious crisis in our institutions when only certain speech is deemed “safe” for the student body. I’ve certainly walked by Sanders 2016 messages in chalk without hesitation. I’ve certainly also seen large throngs of people gathered in support of their democratic candidates. I fear, that instead of fostering discussion we have evolved into a campus of silence. I don’t believe that the few conservatives that come out in support of Trump or Cruz or anyone else are truly representative of the campus demographic. I think the rest are just silent. Because every time someone somewhere says something that is against the established, politically correct, socially liberal, college campus way of thinking, they’re met with intense hatred and mob mentality.
I hear things as I walk around campus and interact with the people I interact with. I hear things like “If you’re a Trump supporter you hate women” and “Republicans are all racist old men” and a myriad of other things too lengthy to quote. It’s incredible to me that the one group that it is politically correct to generalize is one of the two major political parties in the US.
Campus culture shouldn’t be a place of fear. People shouldn’t have to worry about being judged for their political beliefs, just like they shouldn’t have to worry about being judged for anything else. Yes, some of Trump’s ideas can be polarizing and controversial; but as long as nothing overtly damaging is done we should be encouraging controversy. In September 2015, President Obama talked about the “coddling” of college students from different points of view (I encourage you to find the video). He’s absolutely right.
Today I debated whether to write this piece and share my opinion with the world. And I realized that my internal debate was the reason this had to be written.
Welcome to College.
