<p>I came to MIT as a traditionally conservative Republican (with an environmentalist streak), and now I am a libertarian-leaning “small government” conservative (still hanging onto the environmentalist streak). I guess you could say I’m a “Goldwater conservative” or a “Ron Paul conservative”.</p>
<p>During my first semester at MIT, I took 24.02 (Moral Problems and the Good Life). The class focused disproportionately on hot-button issues like abortion and homosexuality, which was disappointing to me. It seemed like the professor (and especially my TA) wanted to make political statements. We had to write three position papers, and I took very conservative positions in each paper. I realized that it might have been wise to moderate my opinions, but since it was Pass/NoRecord, I just went ahead and wrote very forceful conservative arguments. I was always a great writer in high school, and my 24.02 TA acknowledged my strong writing style…but she still gave me grades of C+/B- on all my papers. When I read her comments, it seemed like she had issues with my opinions rather than my writing or the strength of my arguments. Shortly before the final, I emailed the professor to request a meeting to discuss “some concerns” I had about the class. The final consisted of an essay, some short free responses, and matching quotes to authors from the class readings. I chose an essay prompt related to homosexuality and used all the same arguments I had used in one of my papers. I even used some of the exact wording from the paper. I did alright on the quote matching section, though I left one or two things blank. I was very surprised to learn that I got an A+ on that final. My final grade in the class was a B. I wanted to ask the professor how I could have gotten an A+ given (1) the one or two blanks and (2) that I used exactly the same arguments from a paper on which I had gotten a C+. However, I flew out of Boston immediately after finals and never met with the professor. I assumed that I just might not be very good at writing papers by MIT standards (MIT is a lot harder than my high school). That turned out not to be the case. In subsequent semesters, I avoided politically-charged HASS classes and never received anything less than an A- on any paper. In fact, the very next semester (spring freshman year), my history professor gave me the highest paper grades in the class and used one of my papers as an example for future students.</p>
<p>Though my political views have evolved such that I no longer believe many of the things I wrote in those 24.02 papers, I still view what happened as nothing but bias and discrimination. If I could do it over again, I would submit a complaint. I guess I’m telling this story now because I want any social conservatives out there to know that they should be discreet. I would like to think that my problem was an isolated incident, but I know another conservative student who had a similar problem with 24.02.</p>
<p>I should also make it clear that I never experienced any contempt from any fellow students because of my political views. The students are generally very open-minded and respectful.</p>