Exonian Surveys Campus Political Culture
Following controversies including the Academy’s 2018 MLK Day keynote speaker and statistics on police brutality posted on a mathematics instructor’s door, conversations on campus have grown divisive or accusatory, according to some members of the Exeter community. Due to the perception that some liberal voices underscored and some conservative voices are understated, Exeter paused to reflect on its political climate.
According to the recent State of the Academy Survey conducted by The Exonian, Exonians’ political ideologies span a wide spectrum. 36.1 percent of students identify as moderately liberal, 27.3 percent as moderately conservative, 24 percent as moderate, 21.9 percent as very liberal and only 2.1 percent as very conservative.
Despite this, 47.3 percent of students felt the Academy was moderately liberal, and 42 percent felt it was very liberal; the other categories amounted to just 8.5 percent. In this perceived liberal environment, most students, 58.2 percent, felt comfortable or very comfortable with expressing their political opinions, 23.5 percent responded neutral, 11.7 were uncomfortable and 6.5 percent felt very uncomfortable sharing their ideologies.
"I think that it might be harder to find conservative voices, and I think for some students, that can be troubling. It’s not a result of active silencing as much as the fact that there are just more liberal students on campus.”
Prep Sarah Kennedy agreed, adding that conservatives were less willing to share their opinions due to the overwhelmingly progressive campus. “I think that both liberals and conservatives are likely to have polarizing views, but that liberals are more comfortable voicing those views,” she said.
Even on a campus that values intellectual diversity so heavily, Republican Club Adviser Townley Chisholm found that the stifling of conservative voices occurs regardless, even if it is partially due to the differing subcultures between progressives and conservatives. “The cost-benefit ratio for public displays of opinion are quite different for students and faculty who express the prevailing progressive view than for those who disagree,” Chisholm said. “Members of the Democratic Club actively campaign for Democratic candidates. Republican Club members are far more philosophical and never campaign for anything.”
Chisholm believes that the campus culture is not necessarily espoused by the school, but rather an indirect product of the type of people who attend Exeter. “The status quo reflects the economics of families who send their children to Exeter and the fact that the administration doesn’t really concern itself much with issues in economics,” he said.
Other students and teachers expressed similar concerns over the silencing of both conservative voices and unpopular opinions in general. “Because most people are liberal, I feel that the implied sentiment in many conversations tends to be ‘all conservatives are bad,’ which I think excludes more conservative people and their opinions from important conversations,” prep Eunice Kim said.
Mathematics Instructor Aviva Halani suggested that new avenues may need to be created to encourage dialogue. “I have heard that conservative students do not have many spaces to voice their opinions. Perhaps we can create more forums for discussion and dialogue. I would love to see that happen,” she said.
Students and faculty voiced that overall, the school should try to promote more genuine and inclusive conversations. “I think we need to talk to each other in a way that actually promotes conversation rather than ‘I’ll tell you my view, you tell me your view’ and we just butt heads,” Mathematics Instructor Joseph Wolfson said.
Lower Aiwen Desai agreed, adding that conservative opinions should be embraced even by those who disagree. “I think that especially after MLK day, everyone’s been saying that we should try to listen to more diverse opinions like conservative voices. I don’t know if that’ll actually end up happening, but I think there will be a push from some people to try and make it happen,” she said.
Upper Adrian Venzon added that it is important to reconcile strong partisanship with open-mindedness. “I don’t see anything wrong with having a strong opinion about something, but I do see problems when students are unwilling to reform or have their opinions challenged by students with opposite viewpoints,” he said. “It can cause close-mindedness when students allow their arguments to become attacks on other students. It should always be about the topic at hand, not about the other person’s character,” he explained.