College students in the U.S. are almost twice as likely to identify as Democrats than as Republicans, and Northwestern seems to mirror that statistic, if not exceed it. However, plenty of Northwestern students identify themselves as politically conservative, and expressing what often represents a minority opinion has had a major impact on many of their college experiences.
Professor Lauren Harbridge of Northwestern’s political science department said the school is uniquely positioned to be especially liberal because of its geographic location and age demographic. But plenty of Republicans attend Northwestern, and the disparity in political perspectives is especially apparent for conservative students in the classroom.
“It’s hard to speak in a class where there are 30 liberals and one conservative,” SESP freshman Christopher Dungey said. “It’s hard being a one-man army. If you say something, you’re going to face an onslaught from the rest of your classmates.”
In terms of their attitudes towards more conservative perspectives, professors received mixed reviews. Weinberg freshman Olyvia Chinchilla, who majors in economics, was actually drawn to Northwestern because of the philosophically balanced professors in her major.
“I met with them beforehand and there are conservatives among the faculty in the economics department,” Chinchilla said. “I don’t know if I’m spoiled because it’s the right major for conservatives, but who knows.”
However, her experience with more liberal professors has not been entirely positive. When one professor discussed immigration and the legalization of drugs in class, she felt that his lesson was only telling one side of the story.
“On immigration, my professor literally told us in class that illegal immigration was a good thing,” Chinchilla said. “If I’d voiced my opinion, he would have sharply disagreed. He presents [these perspectives] as opinions based on facts that you better believe,” Chinchilla said.
This perspective is backed up by the general trend of liberal faculties at universities. A 2005 University of Toronto and Smith College study found that 72 percent of all faculty at North American universities identify as liberal, though that number drops to only 55 percent for economics professors and 49 percent for business.
SESP junior Shelby Logan said that political topics like immigration, the environment and minimum wage come up often in class.
“People say things with the belief that everyone agrees and that it’s not up for discussion,” Logan said.
Because of this assumption that most Northwestern students are liberal, conservatives on campus can face surprise and backlash from friends.
“When people find out that you’re a Republican, they’re shocked,” Dungey said. “Like that’s something wrong.”
Dungey's experience was not an anomaly. For Logan, telling her friends that she was pro-life elicited a similar response.
One freshman at a College Republicans meeting, after telling his friends that he had joined the club, was told by a friend, “I’m sorry,” according to Domonic Burke, the President of College Republicans at Northwestern.
To avoid these reactions, many Republicans may stay silent about their opinions. Weinberg freshman Nina Sedeño said she often feels nervous to discuss her beliefs openly because it can be difficult for new people who she meets to get past the fact that she is a Republican. This limits her opportunities, and well as those of other Republicans at Northwestern, to participate in campus discourse.
“There is a feeling of marginalization, a feeling that when I say something that I believe in, people will laugh at me and consider it moot just because I identify as right-leaning,” Medill junior Anthony Settipani said.
Settipani believes that this fear of backlash limits potential political discourse on campus.
“All ideas are all viable until proven otherwise in a fair and open discussion,” Settipani said. “I think that’s very much the point of college, to not surround yourself with a bubble of affirmations from people who agree with you, but instead to challenge your perception with something that you may not have intuitively considered.”
While discourse may be good in its own right, many students believe it is especially necessary in college. Though School of Communication freshman Jessica Zeidman identifies as liberal, she still believes in the necessity of more than one political perspective.
“People are only now going to start forming real political beliefs, because before college we lived with our parents and didn’t really have a say,” Jessica Zeidman said. “It’s unfair to everyone to say that this is the way to think, and that if you don’t think that, you are on the outside.”
Some believe that the potential for interactions like this to happen is limited by opinions towards College Republicans, one of the most prominent conservative organizations on campus. The group brought controversial political commentator and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza to speak in May of 2013, and many members of the Northwestern community perceived his comments about diversity as racist and offensive. However, students like Burke and Settipani said they believe that by boycotting the speech and directly attacking College Republicans, the campus was treating conservatives unfairly and stifling potential debate over D’Souza’s remarks.
Some students believe actions like this may come from the stereotypes about conservatism itself.
“If you identify as Republican, you’re kind of the old man in the room. You don’t keep up with the times, or you’re greedy, or you’re anti-women,” Zeidman said. “That’s something that’s kind of been spouted, and it’s unfair.”
In spite of stereotypes and being the minority, identifying as conservative did not generally detract from conservatives’ experiences at Northwestern. With regard to examples of backlash or negative comments, “You hear about cases of this happening, but people don’t stop being friends,” Burke said.
Still, College Republicans seeks to improve the situation by attempting to focus more on cooperation than combativeness with groups on the other end of the political spectrum.
“Over the last year, the group has tried to shift our focus to increase campus dialogue, and I think we’re seen as more legitimate now,” Burke said. “Students at Northwestern are intelligent, passionate people, but there could be more discourse. We’re looking to establish that dialogue.”