A recent study at the University of California at Los Angeles found that more students are declaring themselves liberal now than at any time in our nation’s history since the Vietnam War.
The study, entitled “The American Freshman Survey,” was based this year on the responses of 281,064 students at 421 four-year colleges and universities and is the oldest-running survey of student attitudes in the country.
Alexander Astin, the researcher who started conducting the survey in 1966, said that he noted “a broad-based trend toward greater liberalism on almost every issue we look at.”
At Washington University, however, student group leaders on both the left and right had mixed sentiments with regards to the results and nature of the UCLA study.
Kevin Vallier, a libertarian and member of the Conservative Leadership Association, disagreed with the notion that students were becoming more liberal and took issue with the usefulness of a left-right axis in explaining political views.
“I’m not even sure [the axis] is useful anymore,” said Vallier. “In this country we have two Social Democratic parties-one that is slightly less liberal than the other. Neither really believes in capitalism and neither really believes in socialism. Neither are ideologically pure or consistent at all.”
When asked whether the Clinton era had any effect on liberalism among students, Vallier disagreed, citing many of Clinton’s centrist leanings.
“Clinton himself moved to the center a great deal. He is known both for NAFTA and welfare reform, which are hardly liberal acts. All of his really liberal stuff he failed to pass, such as universal healthcare,” said Vallier.
According to former College Democrats President Ben Smilowitz, the presence of the Bush administration and a Republican Congress must be taken into account in order to explain an increase in liberal concerns.
“While Clinton was President, we had a balanced Congress,” said Smilowitz. “Right now, we have a Republican House and a Republican President. Students are going to seem more vigilant.”
Vallier stated that, in general, a general perception of liberals as activists and conservatives as opponents of change have a lot to do with how people aligned themselves.
“Too often conservatism is associated with the status quo,” he said. “Liberals are pushing closer and closer to what they feel is the ultimate utopian vision of complete equality, including the nationalization of certain industries. They are always pushing in that direction.”
John Barocas of WU’s Sierra Club tentatively agreed with some of the findings of the study and equated liberalism with independent thinking.
“I would tend to say that on issues, students are becoming more liberal because this is the day and age students are becoming more independent than they ever were,” said Barocas. “Students don’t have curfews, and they are not held to very strict demands as a majority. Once they get to college, that independence and free-thinking attitude affects how they affect social issues.”
Smilowitz said he feels that the increase in liberalism across college campuses has to do with the nature of colleges themselves, implying a belief that liberals, like academics, focus more on social problems than conservatives.
“I think that in general you will find that academia is the home of many people who may have more liberal or Democratic inclinations because more people are learning about problems in society,” said Smilowitz.
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