To the Editor:

In a recent interview for the position of Junior Advisor, I was asked “How do you deal with being a Republican on the Bates campus?” My first response was to laugh. What does me being a Republican have to do with the position? Over time, this question began to offend me, and so later I approached the person who asked it. I asked why he would ask me something like that. His reply was, “We always try and ask people that are of some kind of minority on the campus how they deal with it.” I felt that that seemed fair enough, and then I realized that conservatives on the campus are treated like most minorities, with discrimination.

I started thinking about all the absurd names I’ve been called, all the ridiculous situations that have arisen and all the discussions I have had with my peers dealing with politics that all related to my conservatism. I have been labeled a ‘thug’ and a ‘machismo’ and even called a murderer for simply refusing to sign petitions that were either anti-war or anti-Bush. Once a friend of mine refused to meet my mother simply because she was Republican! Why does this campus feel the need to stifle conservative opinions or beliefs?

In an academic atmosphere you would think that people would be allowed to present their own ideas or at least approach material or situations from a different perspective, but for some reason any conservative opinion is dismissed simply because it is conservative and thus regarded as ‘wrong.’ Anytime I find myself in a political discussion, where I am arguing a conservative viewpoint, people stop and tell me, “You should try getting a different perspective.”

How are we supposed to respect a different viewpoint when there is such hostility towards us and our beliefs? I challenge those who have ever found themselves making snide remarks to examine the situation in further detail and see just how different it is from other acts of discrimination.

-Nicole Scott ‘06




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