Of my gender, ethnicity and religion, the unfailingly consistent and false assumption made about me is my political leaning. I hide a shameful, disappointing secret to my greater community. I discourage conversations and watch my words in ideological discussion out of fear of exposure and judgment. I have let down women and people of color. I’m a female, Arab and Muslim college conservative.
Stereotypes follow us all, yet, priorities to eradicate them end at political parties. This is especially true within my classrooms, throughout my education and among my peers. Conservatives can’t seem to escape the long-nosed caricature as unempathetic and closed-minded Trump drones. The misperception of the Republican Party is inescapable on campus, which couples nicely with the dominance of the Democratic Party in continuing these stereotypes. Free speech will suffer at the hands of these unwavering misperceptions. My university is failing its conservative students by allowing it.
The shock by my friends once I’m outed is the biggest giveaway of their unfortunate misperception of conservatism. So, I am here to clean a few things up. A Republican is not a racist nor a bigot. The Conservative Party — which is often synonymous with the Republican Party — values family, privacy and, most of all, liberty. It takes pride in its democracy, meritocracy and low governmental intervention in everyday life. It seeks to capitalize financial freedom and national security with American pride. Despite commonly held beliefs by my classmates, conservatives can exist with empathy, understanding and care for everyone. We do not judge people who identify as homosexual, do not think women are objects and do believe legal immigrants are the backbone of America. There is no hatred or despicability in being a conservative. There is no love for war, death or making people feel unwelcome. In my experience, the opposite has been more true. I struggle to feel accepted by my liberal political counterparts.
A study conducted by political scientists at the University of North Carolina reported that nearly 70% of their conservative students feared that they would lose friends for the sake of their free speech and self-expression. The Pew Research Center reported 79% of Republicans believe professors bring their own political and social views into the classroom, compared to 17% of Democrats. In a philosophy class I audited, I participated in a discussion of the “Barbie” movie in which a student started his comments with the words “imagine if a conservative was here” on the topic of feminism. I am a feminist.
Outside of the classroom, the dominance of opinion is apparent just walking through campus. A sign on every street corner advertises this year’s Harris-Walz movement, but I have yet to see an advertisement for the Republican contender, Donald Trump. The solicitors on campus asking for political signatures or signing students up to vote do so under the Democratic administration as well. Whether purposeful or not, the other half of America is blatantly undermined and unrepresented in these ways. Colleges are not ideological bubbles of Democrats; they should represent America. And college conservatives looking for a community or a sign of acceptance on campus will be consistently disappointed and isolated during this election.
As election season passes us by, I feel greater importance making clear what the Republican Party stands for and how this pervasive bullying and discrimination against us will destroy free speech. Constant rejection of conservative voices not only deteriorates a well-rounded education, but also inhibits the growth of a representative democracy for college students.
If these behaviors continue, my future may look bleak. As I apply for medical school, I can only hope that my political affiliation isn’t ill-taken by admissions committees or medical students. I can only hope that my reputation doesn’t precede me, and that my heart is not negated by a political label. Being a conservative is only a fraction of who I am, but assumptions of my character can have a huge effect on my daily life.
College conservatives need to break free from these labels. Just by showing some compassion and non-judgment is the perfect place to start. Where discrimination is pervasive, it’s best not to dwell how one is perceived but rather how to respond. Though I can hope for a world where my affiliation means less than my character, I use this to listen to my counterparts, show the more interesting and better parts of myself and use the constant disagreement to develop more confidently what I want from my government. In fact, being a conservative in a liberal university may just benefit you. So, conservative students should use their voices as they please when protected under speech rights while understanding the audience which receives them. Representing a party is a huge undertaking, though necessary in developing true acceptance and representative democracy.
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Zaina Jasser is a junior studying physiology and philosophy with a minor in music at the University of Arizona. She enjoys conversations about ethics, trying new cheeses and metal rock and wants to work in medicine one day.
