I am a conservative, Catholic heterosexual.  I am also a Dickinsonian.

If you are rolling your eyes then you are in the majority of people on this campus.  You have also likely just made assumptions about me given what my identity entails—yes, I am against abortion, I go to church every Sunday and I personally believe in marriages that beget offspring.  However, I am not a bigot.  I do not foist my opinions upon others and I seek the truth, just as all of us do.  The problem lies in this campus’s strong leftist double-standard, where the oppressed have become the oppressors and traditional views are prohibited, especially in the social sphere.

Dickinson is a liberal arts school, but it is also liberal and I knew this fact well before enrolling.  What I did not know is that numerous other students—even those whom I counted among my friends—would be intolerant of my own personal views to the extent of no longer talking or associating with me.  I have been physically threatened and called a “fascist,” “bigot,” “sexist,” and basically all of the above, both in person and on social media, in addition to a whole underground of gossip, simply because others refuse to understand me and would rather stigmatize me.  I didn’t realize that true friendships to many Dickinsonians is being a political bedfellow.  To students like these, Dickinson is a liberal daycare center.

The hate I received came to a head during the 2016 Presidential election. As a conservative, I naturally voted for Donald Trump, as he was in my opinion the best choice available between the two candidates. I attended the presidential viewing of the election as it happened in real-time in the HUB social hall, and when people realized that I was both shocked and pleased by the results (they knew I was conservative because they asked for whom I voted), I was hit and shoved by many of the students at my table and others demanded that I leave the room.  What was intended to be a “bipartisan” viewing became a liberal pity-party, with any remaining conservatives acting as scapegoats.

I shortly after attended a Dickinson department meeting to discuss the election, which was advertised as “impartial” and “open to everyone,” and so naturally, I attended.  “Finally, a space where I can feel safe to just be myself?  I’m there!”, I thought.  This ended up being a mass condemnation and lamentation of the election results, with everyone simply echoing the same sentiments that our country was going down the drain.  When I gently reminded that Trump was elected by the citizens of the United States and the electoral college, and maybe we should give him a chance since he is the President and if he fails we fail, I was brushed off and ignored.  While most of my difficulty on this campus has come from students who attack any ideology contrary to their own, I was surprised to see such dismissive behavior coming from professors, who for me comprise of the best part of this campus.

I have even seen religious insensitivity in events and posters endorsed by the college.  As an actively religious person, I take religious tolerance and freedom seriously.  A couple years ago, we had a cartoonist visit campus, and there were posters strewn all over campus of an angry Blessed Virgin Mary wielding two Uzis standing over a murdered Ewok.  In the Catholic faith, Mary is venerated (not worshipped) as the Immaculate Conception and the mother of Christ.  To see her lampooned as a violent, fictional character in posters all over campus I found to be both highly offensive and disturbing.  Now you might be tempted to say “Get over it!”  But what if Dickinson made fun of the Buddha, Muhammad, or the Talmud? The response would have been quite different, but Catholic imagery is fair game to mock and despise.  My point is, it isn’t.  It should be respected just as any other religion should be.  Catholicism may have been the majority religion at one point, but it certainly isn’t anymore, and even if it was, there is no reason for Dickinson to be endorsing religious mockery.  I could go on, but these are some instances where Dickinson enforces a double-standard against the minority of people who hold what is generally regarding as traditional views.

So, what is my point?  I am about to graduate, after all, and move on to the “real world” where everyone does not think the same way—a welcome change to me, but a jarring awakening for Dickinsonians who do not respect different opinions. I only ask that you please do not foster hatred for those different from you, whether they be different based on their orientation, skin color, or, in the context of this article, ideology. Please recognize that at the end of the day, we are all vulnerable, flawed human beings; we all have valid reasons for why we think what we do; and we are all seeking truth.  I have found reading philosophers with whom I starkly disagree has helped me cultivate the ability to see through the lenses of others, as well as by implementing Rogerian arguments.

I did not write this article with the intent to offend, but if I did provoke you, ask yourself why you are indignant; any hate I receive from this article will serve to further my observation of the unfair double-standard that this campus fosters against right-leaning views. If we cannot recognize the values of thought diversity, and seek to stifle those who differ from us, how can we possibly engage in productive discourse?  Our college education is useless to us if we cannot show empathy to others, and in order to do that, we must at least endeavor to understand where others are coming from. A Dickinson college education should not take place in a bubble, and I hope that we can continue to poke at it so that it will eventually pop.