On the second floor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Randall Memorial Library - a columned stalwart lodged securely at the navel of this small, Southern university's campus - a debate rages behind a blue men's-room door. The participants in this dispute are anonymous, invisible and silent - they might as well be ghosts. Concerned with neither credit nor acclaim, these rhetoricians are content to scratch their arguments into the painted and repainted sides of a crabby bathroom stall. Their curt proclamations give no quarter to formality or finesse; they have distilled their messages to the essence of the matter at hand.
“F@$k Bush!”
“Die you Commie liberal f#g!”
“Freedom isn't free.”
At least they're honest.
While it may not be pretty, the expletive-laden graffiti that decorates UNCW's lavatories encapsulates the wide range of political views held by its students. That students disagree about the competence of the current presidential administration comes as no surprise. What is interesting, however, is that the majority of bathroom artists, and a notable contingent of their colleagues, seem to favor a conservative worldview. Although this country's institutions of higher learning have long been regarded, if not stereotyped, as liberal bastions, a new trend is slowly but inexorably emerging. A conservative current flows through the mainstream of many college campuses today. At least, that would seem to be the case at UNCW.
Yet, categorizing the political beliefs of the campus as a whole can be a slippery matter. Depending on whom you ask, the students here are mostly liberal, mostly conservative or mostly apathetic. However, students and faculty alike generally agree that a conservative presence exists.
Jon Thompson, the College Republicans' outgoing UNCW-chapter president and newly elected state president, said that he thought that UNCW was divided between a liberal faculty, chancellor and administration and a “very conservative” student population.
Roger Lowery, assistant chair of the political science department, took a slightly different stance. With his sand-colored chinos propped loosely on the top of his desk, Lowery reflected on his 32-year tenure at UNCW.
“I came in "74, and the student body at that time was, compared to later years, more liberal. During the Reagan years, there was a pronounced shift to the right in the student body, and I would say … certainly since the Iraq war, there"s been a movement back toward the middle,” Lowery said.
Christopher Gould, chair of the English department, agreed with Lowery's assessment.
While he acknowledged that there was a clear conservative presence among the students, Gould also said, “The student body, to me, seems less conservative than it did when I came here in 1986.”
Although no one has conducted a survey polling the political views of UNCW students, an examination of student organizations supports the idea of a conservative trend. Whereas in the 1960s groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Yippies, the Students for a Democratic Society, the Weather Underground and the Young Americans for Freedom flourished, many contemporary organizations fit a different mold. The Campus Activities and Involvement Center's Web site indicates that groups such as the Baptist Student Union, the College Republicans, the Campus Crusaders for Christ, the Campus Christian Fellowship, Straightway Broadcasting and UNCW PLUS (Pro-Life University Students) are typical here. A glance at the goals of some of these organizations is revealing.
Chris Burfield, an economics and finance major who has served as president of the Baptist Student Union since September 2005, said in an e-mail interview that his organization's mission was “to provide an environment where Christian students can come and have fellowship with other Christian students, to be challenged and to grow in their faith through various service opportunities and speakers that come in, and to hopefully take what they've learned and apply it to their lives and share the gospel of Jesus to those they encounter every day.”
According to its Web site, the mission of UNCW PLUS is “To raise awareness and peacefully promote pro-life attitudes on campus and throughout the community, and to lend pro-life support when needed.”
New President Brian Pate posted a message on the UNCW College Republicans' Web site encouraging students to “…attend a meeting, contact an officer, and see how you can do your part to advance the ideals of the Republican Party and Conservatism both here on campus and in your community.”
Not exactly a wild and crazy bunch. While mothers and fathers will invariably continue to fret over the temptations awaiting their children in unsupervised “college life,” the students who belong to these organizations sound like they might actually be more traditional than their parents. The question is why.
The answer, of course, is again elusive, although regionalism provides a partial explanation. Wilmington, tucked securely within the Bible Belt's ever-expanding waistline, is a red city in a red state.
