Students at the University have long been aware of the school’s “liberal” reputation.
Now, a national survey shows college freshman hold more politically liberal views now than they have at any time since the Vietnam War.
For many University residents who have witnessed the variety of protests and student activism during the past 30 years, the news is unsurprising. But some think the survey and its labels sell short the political beliefs of students at the University and schools nationwide.
UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, the Washington D.C.-based American Council on Education and the University of California conducted “The American Freshman Survey”, which asked 281,064 students at 421 four-year colleges and universities about their political beliefs.
The survey found that 57.9 percent of freshman think gay couples should have the legal right to marry, which is the highest number in two decades. Also, 32.2 percent said the death penalty should be abolished, and more than one-third surveyed said marijuana should be legalized, the highest number of proponents since 1980.
Nearly 30 percent of those surveyed in January, the highest response since 1975, identified their political affiliation as liberal or “far left,” while about 20 percent of respondents considered themselves conservative or “far right.” The majority of students surveyed said they were neither conservative or liberal but “middle of the road.”
Frequent protests and student activism over the years have given the University a reputation of campus liberalism. One well-known campus demonstration occurred in 1970, when students protested the University Senate’s decision to retain the ROTC program on campus. About 400 protesters sat-in at Johnson Hall and rallied against ROTC facilities on campus by throwing fire crackers and torches as well as apples with razor blades through windows. For the first time at the University, the police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
Large scale campus demonstrations returned to the University in spring 2000, when students camped out for 10 days on Johnson Hall’s lawn in an anti-sweatshop-labor campaign urging the University to join the Worker Rights Consortium.

Survival Center co-director Randy Newnham said he does not believe that campus protests define student’s political ideologies as liberal. He said he also thinks “The American Freshman Survey” inaccurately defines liberalism and conservatism because they base it solely on human rights and drugs.
“When they measure liberalism based on these terms, it’s ludicrous,” he said. “I think the definition of liberalism and conservatism is stereotypical and outdated.”
Newnham said he believes more students on campus have been demonstrating awareness and showing interest in becoming involved, but he would define their political beliefs as radical, not liberal.
“I would describe more students as being radical because many of the students that I work with are anti-capitalism, pro-labor equality, pro-liberation and think critically about world events,” he said. “They question the basic conformity that only gives us two choices between liberalism and conservatism.”

Campus Republicans Treasurer Jarrett White said he believes the majority of students at the University do hold liberal views.
“There is a bias against conservatives here at the University,” he said. “If you look at the protests, most are for liberal causes, and I think that just by listening to the majority of professors lectures, you will hear liberal viewpoints.”
White said he believes the Campus Republicans have a duty to make their voices heard on this campus, but he does not think that the ratio between Republicans and Democrats must be equal. However, he said he would like to hear more conservative viewpoints on campus.
White attributes many students’ liberal tendencies at the University to professors expressing their political views in classes.
“If the professor is someone who is respected and if he is spouting off liberal views, someone who is not sound with their political views will follow it,” he said. “Professors should not be expressing their political viewpoints in classes, and too often they are.”
Campus Democrats Secretary Lauren Manes said she believes University students demonstrate more liberal attitudes because political activism on campus usually represents liberal views and the majority of students vote for the Democratic Party or the Green Party.
“I think that a lot of students at the University do not become as involved or as active in the Campus Democrats because they do feel as if their liberal views are threatened,” she said. “The Campus Republicans tend to be more active because they are the minority view on campus.”
However, Manes said she did think liberalism has been growing in popularity. She has been involved with the Campus Democrats for three years and said the group is becoming more diverse each year. This year, more women and people of color have been interested in attending meetings and getting involved, she said.
E-mail reporter Danielle Gillespie at [email protected].