Just like most metropolitan cities, Austin is a hub for left-leaning people. Similarly, UT students tend to lean democratic. A 2020 study by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression found 43% of UT students identified as liberal.
When a community shows a preference toward one political identity, whether it be conservative or liberal, it creates the expectation that young people in that area identify the same way. But as college students, we must actively seek out views that we identify with to make sure that our political participation is worthwhile.
“We’re so impressionable,” said Lorraine Pangle, government professor and co-director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. “I think that goes back to the fact that we have to live in groups, we have to work together as a group … if we didn’t listen to each other, that would be really bad. But it’s also a problem that we listen to each other so much without our own critical judgment.”
People take on the views of those around them and the environment they grew up in, and that absorption remains true for political views.
“Your parents have political views and probably have a bigger effect on your politics,” said William Spelman, emeritus professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. “I think what you come up with at the table and on the schoolyard is always with you, no matter what happens in college, but we can help you think more broadly.”
College is a unique opportunity to grow your understanding of your own views and connect with new thoughts on the same political issues.
“One of the things that we’re missing is an appreciation for how so many of the questions about how we should live together are hard questions,” Pangle said. “There are good answers in very different camps … it’s good to be aware of those deep differences and appreciative of them as well.”
That critical judgment in politics keeps us moving forward toward progress, and without it we miss out on growing our understanding of the people around us.
Whether college students feel pressure to identify with a specific party or simply fail to explore other political venues, the lack of independent views is problematic. Every piece of our adult lives is connected to political participation and discussion, and by not figuring out what we believe in, we inadvertently support things that we may not agree with.
We must actively challenge our beliefs and look for more diversity in our political thought. Participating in nonpartisan campus organizations like BridgeTexas or TX Votes allows students to grow in environments where that learning is encouraged.
Whether your views are in the majority, minority or anything in between, make sure that they are your own. Your voice matters in politics, so make it count.
Muthukrishnan is a government and race, indigeneity and migration sophomore from Los Gatos, California.
