DeSon is a fourth-year political science and history
student.
By Jason S. DeSon
As vice president of the Political Science Student Organization, I
had the privilege of attending the annual Political Science Faculty
& Student Dinner.
I listened to a cross section of our department discuss their
duties as professors. I could not help but notice one common
element of their presentations to the thirty undergraduates in
attendance, and that was their desire to provide the best education
to their students. It was not to indoctrinate their students with
their personal political ideologies, but rather to share with their
students the excitement they feel in regard to the study of
political science.
There is no attempt on this campus to sway students to a
particular method of thinking. The professors are actually teaching
us to think for ourselves.
Yet the perpetual cold war between the conservatives and
liberals of this campus has begun to grow hot in recent weeks. It
began with a column that made a crude yet accurate observation that
this campus’ faculty lacks conservatives (“Campus
suppresses “˜right’ education,” Daily Bruin,
Oct. 31). Following the appearance of the article, another appeared
that carried USAC into the fray (“Empowerment or an
impediment?” Daily Bruin, Nov. 13). And Wednesday, Nov. 28,
there was yet another anti-war rally that stressed the need for
“workers,” a word often associated with the socialist
doctrine of leftist politics, to unite to end the war.
Actually, I admire the courage of these protesters ““ it
takes a lot of guts to take such a position. But when one speaker
addressed the students holding American flags and old Bush/Cheney
campaign signs as “nuts,” my blood began to boil. It
demonstrated the danger of political ideology on this campus.
There is no room for either conservative or liberal doctrine at
a public institution such as UCLA. I have yet to feel indoctrinated
by any belief by any professor in the political science and history
departments.
Perhaps this is because I am a university student, who by
definition should be equipped with the mental capacities to know
when I am being lured by propaganda rather than fact. Since the
majority of students I encounter in my classes want to attend law
school, I hope they too know the difference.
As a moderate Republican, there is nothing more I would like to
see than the equal presentation of political ideologies. This is
most difficult to do and for good reason.
The famous Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti said in one of his
works, “the occupation punished (the university) in every
conceivable way and in return the university punished the
occupation in every way it could.” I imagine there are many
within the University of California system that have felt this same
way since Gov. Ronald Reagan reduced funding to the university.
Conservatives punished the university and so the university will
punish them. I can’t say I blame them. However, there is a
greater principle that must be followed here.
Now this will probably be one of the few times that you will
ever note a republican agreeing with the American Civil Liberties
Union. But I am a firm believer in the concept of liberty and
equality. In fact, equality was one of the many reasons the
Republican Party was formed in the 1850s. I must concur with the
precedent established by the ACLU that a specific ideology, not
necessarily agreed to by everyone, has no place within the public
education system. If there is no prayer or pledge of allegiance in
class, then there better not be any attempt to indoctrinate
students with liberal or conservative ideologies.
The university has thus far done a good job of keeping political
groups independent.
However, the recent article titled, “Decisions
of campus groups are justified“ by USAC member
Christopher R. Neal (Daily Bruin, Nov. 28) leaves me with the
impression that there are ideological principles at play within the
student government. Of course, politics and government go hand in
hand. And in general, I agree with Neal that these clubs contribute
greatly to diversity on this campus. However, I cannot help but
conclude that there are some political motives being displayed here
that fall within the dichotomy of political ideology. I will not
criticize USAC for this, but I will caution that this could lead to
further division, which I am sorry to say, we may already be
experiencing. And this cannot be ignored, even if those students do
not share the same objectives as USAC.
I cannot avoid the conclusion that there is some sort of blind
devotion to the idea that all conservatives are somehow evil, that
anyone who dares to call themselves a republican are bigoted and
otherwise uncompassionate to the sufferings of the American people.
Well, let me tell you that there are conservatives who have very
similar opinions about liberals. Which should be no surprise if you
have been keeping up with the Viewpoint section lately.
But both sides are wrong and that is why this campus needs to
set ideology aside.
It is time for conservatives and liberals to work together and
compromise. History has shown that the legislation that does the
best for the people is the kind that is both conservative and
liberal, or moderate.
My friends in the Bruin Democrats say they will try to convert
me, my friends in the Bruin Republicans say that I should join in
their fight with the campus. Well, I will not convert and I will
not fight this campus. I love this school, I am proud to be here. I
came to this school to learn the skills I need to be a successful
attorney and a successful statesman. The first lesson in success
that I learned here is that you must be willing to work with those
around you, even if they disagree with you.