The LSU student body may be composed of a vast majority of conservatives, but the prevailing campus culture does not offer a welcoming embrace to this majority group.
This certainly has not been the case throughout LSU’s history. It could not have occurred without the conservative majority passively giving its approval by sitting idly by as liberal activists gained control of many student and campus institutions.
Generally, conservative-minded students would rather worry about things they can directly control while liberals believe it is their duty to ensure government institutions are involved in everybody’s life.
Of course, there are always exceptions, but this trend can easily be seen on our campus. Many students come to campus, attend class then return home or to a job. Others make a concerted effort to get involved in student organizations and spend their free time on campus.
Being involved in Student Government and various student organizations since I arrived at LSU allows me to personally testify that the majority of the involved students subscribe to a liberal worldview. At times, I became very frustrated with lack of conservative participation and the conservatives who were active were often afraid to express their beliefs. However, those on the liberal side were unafraid to speak up and became well organized.
This was shown as an organization composed of the most extreme liberal groups on campus formed the Progressive Student Alliance and were highly effective at what they did for a few years. Even though the organization only represented the views of a minute fraction of campus, Student Government candidates feared them and coddled for their support.
Through its organization, the PSA elected numerous student senators, Spectrum Alliance became a regular recipient of student senate monies, the Union Programming Council brought Ralph Nader in as a speaker with student funding and made many of their other extreme causes “mainstream.”
The lone Student Senator who opposed giving student funding to the Spectrum Alliance, a group many students find objectionable, was labeled by many as a bigot simply because she opposed donating student funds to it on moral and religious grounds.
Since then, they have returned to the Student Senate purse and won with little more than a couple of nay votes.
The Spectrum Alliance certainly deserves the opportunity to go before the Student Senate for funding, but the unopposed manner in which its funding is given is troubling. Conservative campus organizations rarely receive student funding and not necessarily because the governing bodies refuse. But they rarely are organized enough to approach the necessary bodies for event funding.
Conservative students even fail to stand up for their beliefs in the classroom. Whether they fear the retribution of their professor, negative comments from classmates or just don’t know enough about the subject, they find it easier to stay quiet.
The fact that many ridicule conservative students as ignorant bigots instead of genuinely debating an argument on its merits makes it difficult to call yourself conservative. But others are free and encouraged to use bigoted remarks against white males or any other group perceived as dominant.
Educated conservatives usually prevail in the free marketplace of ideas and should shake off negative stereotypes. It is time for the conservatives to take back their place as the majority on campus. Stop letting the organized few control the masses by doling out all the resources to an elite few. If conservatives get involved, gutsy and educated LSU will be a better university for all students.