Recently, I was surprised to learn that the University of California system is the second largest donor to the various different Hillary campaigns from 1999-2016. Just how much exactly does the UC system donate? Almost a million dollars… Now, it is important to note that this money is not donated directly from the universities themselves, but rather from individuals- such as professors, alumni, and student organizations- associated with the seven universities within the UC system. Regardless of who is doing the donating, that is A LOT of money being donated to a Democratic campaign by a public university.
While the amount of money being donated surprised me, the involvement seen among California collegians did not. It is often noted that people tend to develop a more conservative attitude with age, and that the liberal opinion is often the most popular among college campuses. Considering this notion, along with the fact that California has been a blue state since the 2000 election, it really isn’t all that surprising that the UC system has donated this much money to a liberal campaign. What is more surprising to me, however, is that the UC system has donated almost twice as much to the Hillary campaign than to Bernie.
Now, what exactly does this say about our campus? While I would say the Bernie campaign did wonders in inspiring and engaging the younger population into current politics, this info presents another side to the story. With the extremely large amount of money donated between 1999-2016, it becomes clear that California collegians have been involved in politics since long before the Bernie campaign. In addition, within this past race for the White House, those associated with the universities have donated much more money to the Hillary Campaign than to Bernie’s campaign.
This is interesting, also, due to the fact that college campuses tend to be breeding grounds for Bernie supporters. At my own university, UC San Diego, there was a Bernie 2016 sign in 1 out of every 5 dorm windows I passed. While we seem to have donated more to Hillary, it clearly appears we were more involved with Bernie’s campaign.
While I will admit that I was not a huge supporter of either candidate, this information paints an interesting picture of how exactly this election shaped politics among students on my campus. Just some food for thought.
