Kristen Robertson
Staff Writer
“We’re conservatives on the outside and liberals in the closet,” freshman Jessica Piepgrass said firmly, referring to the political atmosphere among her fellow Pepperdine freshmen. “It’s like, people try to present themselves as conservative Christians – but they’re actually just gay alcoholics.”
Piepgrass does agree, however, that there are more freshmen here at Pepperdine who are conservative. However, she does believe that there are more liberals than people believe. “They just hide themselves well,” Piepgrass added.
According to a survey put out by UCLA, college freshmen in 2006 are increasingly involved in politics and increasingly leaning toward the liberal viewpoints. Support for military spending is down, as well is, support for the draft. More freshmen throughout the United States this year are also identifying themselves as having a more liberal view of the world, according the survey.
UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institution takes the “American Freshman” survey annually. Researchers based the statistics on 263,710 freshmen at 385 of the nation’s four-year schools.
As liberal trends among college freshmen are rising through out the nation, many students believe that Pepperdine is a conservative haven – an exception to the liberal norm.
“There are definitely more conservatives here on a whole,” freshman Jade Tibbals, when asked about her classmates. “But I’m sure there are liberals here, too.”
“Pepperdine freshmen definitely are not mainstream in their political views,” freshman Justin Brown said. A firm supporter of the draft, the war in Iraq and President Bush, Brown is grateful for the conservative viewpoint expressed among many of his classmates.
“I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we’re all upper middle class. It’s just normal that we’re conservative,” Brown concludes with an air of finality. The conservative, religious faculty may also have something to do with this unusual conservative bent.
“I think we differ here because the professors have no agenda,” Andrew Turvey, a conservative from Kansas, said after a moment of reflection. “A lot of other schools rule out religion as a factor in politics and we don’t do that here. Professors aren’t all trying to push liberal propaganda in every lecture like they do at other schools.”
“It’s because of the rules here,” freshman Amanda Christianson added. “Because we’re not going out getting drunk every night, we have a better opportunity to learn about the world. Pepperdine freshmen are more grounded than your average college student.”
However, another freshman had a different opinion. “I think religion definitely plays a major factor,” Bridget Nielsen said, hand on her hip and face thoughtful. “A lot of the students were raised in Church of Christ homes and they haven’t really formulated their own ideas yet.”
Some freshmen, however, suggest that Pepperdine is starting to lose some of its conservative fire. They point to an increasing amount of nonreligious students being accepted and a growing number of democratic professors.
Perhaps, Pepperdine freshmen are just following the trends and becoming more liberal along with the rest of the United States – just not in as great of numbers.
“There are a lot of liberals here, especially in my political science class – a lot more than I expected,” Brown said thoughtfully. “I think they are definitely starting to grow in number.”
Nielsen, a liberal herself, agreed. “The liberals here are very outspoken, they know what they believe and they’re not afraid to defend it. I think they might be starting to win some people over.”
Others believe Pepperdine will always maintain its reputation as a bastion of conservatism.
“I think it has a lot to do with the leadership here at Pepperdine,” Jonathan Jackson said. “They accept students who subscribe to a more conservative and religious viewpoints. They hire professors that are going to teach to a more conservative and religious viewpoint. Other schools don’t work like that.”
Pepperdine’s religious traditions also play a major role in keeping the school conservative.
“Eighty-five percent of Christians are conservative,” Christianson said, quoting from a project she did her senior year of high school. “As long as the majority of Pepperdine is Christian, I think we’ll stay conservative.”
Jackson agreed. “I read somewhere that Pepperdine is getting more and more Christian – and that’s going to mean that we are going to become more and more conservative.” He shook his head and mentioned that he is very liberal. He did find a bit of optimism for his point of view.
“Harding is much more conservative than Pepperdine,” Jackson added and then listed several other schools that he considered to be more conservative than Pepperdine. “I guess I can be grateful I don’t go there.”
Between the liberals and the conservatives, however, a new group is emerging from among Pepperdine’s freshmen: the moderates.
“I think there are a lot of moderates at Pepperdine,” Turvey said. “As a whole, the school tends to be more liberal than a lot of hardcore Christian universities. We are definitely moderate.”
“I think a lot of people think Pepperdine is more conservative than it really is,” said Piepgrass, forehead crinkling: “There are a lot of people here who walk the middle of the road.”
07-04-2006
