Critical Mass

By Evan Sparks

After a fall semester spent far from my beloved but devastated city, it’s good to be back at Tulane and in New Orleans, not least because of the weather: those of us down here in the balmy climes of the Gulf have been wearing short sleeves since January! Temperate winters must lead to temperate politics, because Tulanians are largely politically inactive; the political atmosphere at Tulane is not highly charged.

We have active chapters of College Democrats and College Republicans, both of which bring speakers and volunteer for campaigns. Recent political speakers include Howard Dean and Ben Stein. With our large Jewish population, we have a pro-Israel group, and there are also the requisite environmental and sexual-minority-rights activist groups, but they are small. Most students though are apathetic.

The administration is not particularly politicized. Although the president publicly hailed the Supreme Court’s pro-affirmative action decision in 2003 and announced that Tulane would take race and other factors into account in order to achieve “diversity,” there has been otherwise little political action taken by the administrators. Like most higher-education professionals, they are left-wing, but few use their position as a bully pulpit for their views; I recall no cases of discrimination against conservative students.

There are occasional reminders of liberalism: As a resident advisor, I once had a sensitivity training session which equated those who oppose gay marriage with the atrocious gay-bashing minister Fred Phelps (of “God hates fags” fame). Afterwards, however, I spoke with my supervisor and received assurance that the programs presented in the future would be more respectful and less hostile. My former supervisor is an excellent example of an open-minded liberal who welcomes diverse viewpoints and perspectives on her staff, and encourages students to be honest and candid about their beliefs. The administration isn’t perfect, but it isn’t particularly hostile to conservatives.

I know of a few incidents of classroom bias, but I have never experienced any myself. I have taken classes from liberals and conservatives, none of whom have injected their politics into the class – even in the case of political science classes! I have one professor who so ably argues all sides of the issues (as a devil’s advocate) that I have very little idea of what he actually believes. And that’s the way it ought to be.

On the whole Tulane is a moderate political environment. Certainly there are outspoken faculty, administrators, and students (like me) but they’re a minority, and not especially active. It makes for a pleasant campus atmosphere –– to go along with our pleasant spring weather.