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Liza Woods, Retriever Weekly Staff Writer, published October 5, 2004
What do College and Hollywood have in common? The answer is that Republicans seem to be nonexistent, or at least are laying low for fear of being ostracized. Just look at the cars in our own cramped parking lots; most sport Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers. This only feeds the stereotype that college students are all Democrats. Around campus there must be those who yearn to voice their Republican beliefs freely; like those few brave souls on campus who proudly display their “W ‘04” stickers on their cars, and celebrities like Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who belong to a small group that has “politically outed” themselves.
I will proudly admit that I lean to the right. Why should Hollywood and higher learning be branded liberal? Republicans are made to feel like they should keep quiet. I was inspired recently by a documentary that aired on AMC called Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood. The filmmaker (a Democrat), interviewed people like Patricia Heaton and Pat Sajak, as well as members of organizations like the Christian screenwriters coalition and a Republican organization for those employed in Hollywood. It seemed to parallel the way of life on College campuses perfectly. Conflicting polls tell different stories about Republican students on campuses becoming more prevalent, and students expressing more favorable opinions of President Bush, but you would be hard pressed to find them on most campuses, even after tirelessly searching.
It’s hard to decide what to believe when one report says the number of Republicans on campuses is on the rise while another says the opposite. UMBC does have The College Republicans, who belong to an organization called The College Republican National Committee (www.cnc.com), which is a unifying force that helps Republicans in colleges all over the country. The membership of the UMBC College Republicans ranges from fifteen to fifty, according to their Second Vice-Chairman Rose Capozzi, who also added that “more members than ever are coming out to our events and meetings.” The meeting I stopped in on recently had close to 20 attendees. Many who cannot make it to meetings receive emails through their mailing list, which goes out to nearly 300 people.
Rose Capozzi followed with a compelling theory about the deeper political problems that go on in college: “there are few Republicans in the administration and faculty. This makes it very difficult to find the support we sometimes need to be able to bring the kinds of programs we would like to see on campus. I have had complaints since the time I have served on the executive board, both in the state and at our university about professors who are unwilling to listen to other political viewpoints. This is the reason that some students are afraid to even sign up for our e-mail list, and why many others look over their shoulders and sign up quickly.” She went on to acknowledge that this could hold the key to why colleges are viewd as liberal intuitions. The faculty on campus appears to influence the political voice in college, regardless of whether or not this is intentional.
Before I attended UMBC, I was a student at University of Maryland College Park, and at both I’ve encountered professors who pushed their blatantly partial viewpoints on the students. One professor at College Park, before the last election, loved to bring up how she worked for Al Gore, and declared how much she wanted to help Al Gore defeat George W. Bush, but didn’t have the time to join the campaign right now. I raised my hand and asked if she considered it appropriate to mention this in class in which she railed against bias in the media. My professor practically ignored me for the rest of the semester. This came to mind when I heard a standout quote in the AMC documentary when “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Patricia Heaton described the looks she got when she told a Bush basher at the Hollywood function how she voted for the President. Ms. Heaton said, “It was like I had just crapped on the table in front of everybody.” That is exactly the kind of reaction many college Republicans fear.
However, the number of Conservatives in college may be rising, despite such attitudes. Members of the Green Party may find that the dominant two-party system in this country requires them to take sides, and more and more people can be seen taking Bush/Cheney stickers from College Republicans table at functions. I urge you to put aside stereotypes when you think about Republicans. There are pro-choice Republicans and pro-gun control Republicans mixed with those who are pro-death penalty and believe in a limited government.
Both College and Hollywood often seem to shun those who espouse a different view. This is wrong. To those of you who are Republican, or Independent, but leaning to the right, please let your voices be heard. Let us change the collegiate atmosphere from one where Republican views are silenced or outnumbered to one where all views are welcomed and not stifled.
Christopher Paul, published October 12, 2004
In Rebuttal to Woods's article "College and Hollywood: ...” Arnold Schwarzeneggar, and President Bush have similarities, neither of these leaders are true Republicans. What is happening is the Democratic Party is leaning so far to the left it is becoming a Socialist Party and in compensation, the Republican Party is leaning towards the left taking up a more moderate position. Case in point: Neither President Bush, nor Governor Schwarzeneggar are concerned with the influx of illegal immigrants. Shwareneggar changed his campaign position and now intends to pass legislation granting drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. The bigger problem with this is that because of the “Motor/Voter Laws,” the right to vote is granted to people who have no right to decide the outcome of important decisions in a country where they are not citizens.
On the issue of Hollywood and higher education being branded liberal, they are not “branded,” they just are. I do follow Wood's point that there are conservatives within these institutions, but because the conservatives are not as vocal as the liberals, they are not as well known. It’s a matter of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease," and obviously the liberals are the squeaky wheel.
Addressing higher education, my experience on the campus of UMBC has been different from other students on other campuses. Students report cases where when defending their conservative views in academic exercises, whether in class discussions or in the grading of assignments, have been penalized for their views. In my academic career at UMBC, I have not had this experience. Rather, these viewpoints have been respected and even encouraged, so long as I could support the viewpoint. This is an open view and the point is that regardless of the instructor's view, instructors stressed that no matter what the position of argumentation, of number one importance is the ability to support the argument through facts. But once one has all the facts and provided that the argument is logically constructed, one may find that the facts do not support one’s originally stated argument leading one to conclude that one’s argument is incorrect. Therefore the argument must be reconstructed in order to support the conclusion, otherwise one has a false argument. Therefore, instructors at UMBC have not stressed the outcome but rather the correct process by which one formulates a solid argument. This is a valuable tool that lasts a lifetime.
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