<p>Whatever the philosophy of the faculty, I don’t think the faculty has as much influence on 18-22 year olds as peers do. </p>
<p>College is it’s own bubble. In college, I thought it was odd that we were not exposed more to people of different ages, and different walks of life. We were all basically 18-22 year olds with no adults around besides professors. My college was strongly predominantly liberal, and, since I identified with my peers, I identified as that as well, but in retrospect my understanding of the larger political picture was limited at that age, as it is with many 18 year olds. This was a different era, so some issues were not the same, but in general, the tone was tolerance, (a good thing in general), except for one: the student who didn’t embrace liberal values- and that person was fair game to criticize and ridicule. </p>
<p>Before someone assumes I am attacking liberals and comes in with examples of intolerant conservatives, I need to clarify that I am not attacking liberals. I am describing how young people who are barely out of high school, behave in groups and their strong desire to be accepted by the group. This is an age where young people won’t even dress differently than their peers. They come to campus wanting to fit in and are separated from older adults and the range of society that might give them more perspective than they have at the time. Liberal and conservative philosophies are broader than college students’ perspectives, but students lack the life experience they need to refine their views.</p>
<p>I acknowledge that the same situation could occur in reverse. A young liberal could feel uncomfortable at a predominantly conservative college. I would not expect a liberal student to attend a college where he or she is uncomfortable and fortunately for that student, there are many choices.There are fewer choices for conservative leaning students. </p>
<p>I think it is good for young people to be exposed to new ideas, but this should not include being socially excluded and ridiculed if they don’t agree with those ideas. Ideally,people should be civil to each other even if they disagree, but we have plenty of evidence that this doesn’t always happen. A college student who is different from the group is in a vulnerable position because of the age of the students, the phenomenon of group behavior, and the environment they are in. College is a stepping stone to the real world, but it is still a select environment. Outside a college, one is likely to encounter a range of people with different ideas and also a range of maturity about how they express them. In the larger world, there are ways to not feel isolated, or at least, one has the privacy of one’s own home. A student in a dorm has no place to go if he/she is singled out. </p>
<p>If I believe that students should feel safe on a campus, then that has to include all students. </p>