After many years of formation and development, the conservative
movement on college campuses has gathered momentum. What once was
considered a radical faction on campus is now an actual contender
in academia’s political milieu.
Yet none of the triumphs and advances of the conservative
movement in the past year would have been possible or necessary
without the many anti-conservative forces that fuel and govern the
university.
The politically biased faculties of U.S. colleges have created
an ideological battlefield on campuses across the nation. Take Duke
University, for example. According to an informal survey of
Duke’s economics, English, history, philosophy, political
science and sociology departments, conducted by the non-partisan
Center for the Study of Popular Culture, of the 110 professors
registered with one of the two main parties, 95 were Democrats and
only 15 were Republicans.
In light of these numbers and their real-life implications,
students at Duke have mobilized and started a fight for academic
freedom.
In a phone interview, Stephen Miller, a conservative activist
and president of Duke’s Students for Academic Freedom, told
me, “In the 1960s and 1970s, through student activism,
liberals were able to corrupt our avenues of learning.
Conservatives are now starting a similar movement. But instead of
focusing on contempt and hate, we want to focus on respect for all
beliefs and integrity and decency in the classroom.”
But why is this movement taking hold just now? Miller continued,
“Conservative students are no longer willing to accept that
our nation’s institutions of learning deny students the most
sacred and fundamental academic right: the unbiased pursuit of
knowledge.” And so, Students for Academic Freedom chapters
have spread throughout the nation. Today, there are more than 120
chapters in the United States.
Parochial faculties are only the beginning. The
university’s support of race-based, as opposed to
merit-based, programs has also alienated conservatives. Affirmative
action, comprehensive review, unfair distribution of Pell grants
and financial support based on race have attacked the values that
conservatives respect most: merit and competition.
In this instance too, conservative students have been
reactionary. For example, at Roger Williams University in Rhode
Island, the university’s College Republicans protested
affirmative action by issuing a “whites-only”
scholarship of $250.
Jason Mattera, chairman of the Roger Williams College
Republicans, told CNN, “We think that if you want to treat
someone according to character and how well they achieve
academically, then skin color shouldn’t really be an
option.” The group at Rhode Island captured the attention of
national and international media and spread awareness of
conservative values throughout the Roger Williams campus.
Aside from the biases of professors and administrations, there
are also widespread ideological patterns among students and student
groups. Currently, U.S. campuses are home to radical
multiculturalist and anti-American organizations. The students who
run them sometimes deny the righteousness or even the legitimacy of
the United States.
Perhaps the largest conservative advance in this area is being
realized at UCLA where, for the past two months, Bruin Republicans
has lead an all-out campaign against the student group MEChA.
Currently, MEChA receives $6,500 from student fees whereas the
Bruin Republicans and the Bruin Democrats do not receive any
funding. BR has answered this travesty with a multifaceted and
powerful response. BR members have appeared on local radio several
times, have handed out flyers, written submissions to Viewpoint,
and debated with students.
In the past, Bruin Republicans has sparked fleeting interest
with its creative affirmative action bake sales. But this time
around, the group has become the beneficiary of almost $30,000 in
donations and massive public support. They have changed minds and
created controversy. “The success of the Bruin Republicans
isn’t just the chance victory of a college group,” said
Christopher Moritz, a Bruin Republican, during a phone interview.
“It symbolizes a whole movement that is sweeping through
American universities from the Pacific to the Atlantic.”
The on-going struggle at the nation’s universities are an
indicator of an important reality: Conservatives are no longer
tolerating oppression and ostracism in American universities and
are demanding a voice.
In past years, affirmative action bake sales, small public
protests, and calls for change did take place ““ but only
sporadically. But today the conservative movement is no longer
dormant.
This new movement is most obviously political. But it should be
welcomed and respected by conservatives and liberals alike.
Everyone can appreciate the utmost necessity of the free and
unhampered exchange of ideas.
Colleges and students should salute this movement as a stride
toward the ideals of every institution of learning: academic
freedom and intellectual diversity.
Hovannisian is a first-year history and philosophy student.
E-mail him at ghovannisian@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.