Bro. Askia
New Member
At NCCU, students feel free to express their opinions
http://web.nccu.edu/studentlife/index.shtml
BY MEREDITH BUSE, The Herald-Sun
February 22, 2004 10:04 pm
http://www.herald-sun.com/sports/nccentral
DURHAM -- They call him Cornelius the Conservative.
Senior Cornelius Little says his views earned him the nickname at N.C. Central University, but that liberal classmates and professors respect and often seek his opinions.
"There's not an obstacle for me standing in class and people hearing my view," the political science major said. "Even when I tried to hide in the back of the room, they asked my opinion, or Dr. [Jarvis] Hall [a political science professor] would say, 'Cornelius, what do you think about the issue.'"
Although Little said some peers don't like his being both black and conservative, it is his experience that respect and discussion guide NCCU's classes.
"It's almost common in classes for us to take both sides of an issue," he said, with teachers asking students to defend opinions they don't hold personally.
While some conservative students at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill say they can't talk openly in some left-leaning classrooms, and while many universities debate whether party affiliation should affect whom they hire, NCCU's conservative students say they don't share those concerns.
A small group of students who want to form an NCCU College Republicans club give opinions freely in class despite their minority status in largely Democratic classes, they said.
"Everybody more or less speaks their mind," said senior Eric McNeill, who is a black Republican.
McNeill, who contacted someone with the National Republican Party last week for help starting the club, already meets casually to talk politics with about four conservative students, he said.
McNeill said other students sometimes tease him about his party affiliation, but he said professors at NCCU encourage discussion and dissent more than they do at Philadelphia's Temple University, from which he transferred.
McNeill also said many at NCCU agree with him on issues like religion, homosexuality and abortion, but they vote Democratic because their family does.
"Some of them might start voicing opinions when you start talking to them that are more conservative -- but they don't know that," he said. "Once they find out your views, they're not far off from everyone else's."
NCCU sophomore Beethowen Gregory, 39, who met McNeill in an English class last year, is the only Republican in his family, he said.
"I had a taste of the other side and had a chance to weigh which side could benefit me and the community more," said Gregory, a physical education major who hopes to coach high school or college sports after graduation.
As the father of a 16-month-old, Gregory said his commitment to the Republican Party is rooted in family values and religion, and he questions how Christians can vote any other way.
Another student, Jason Soper, is outnumbered both as a white student and as a Republican at NCCU. Soper, a junior who transferred from N.C. State University two years ago, said he only censors himself when he doesn't have personal experience with the topic, such as growing up without a parent or struggling to make ends meet.
"I tend not to say anything, because I don't know the background of everyone in my class," he said.
On most political issues, Soper said he openly shares his opinions because questioning views -- his own and others' -- and finding out the facts are important to democracy.
"We're at least able to get our viewpoints out there, then they're debated," said Soper, who said he likes the Republican emphasis on morality and less federal government involvement in personal lives.
Jarvis Hall, the political science professor who seeks Little's opinion and also the department chairman, said that even though conservative students are encouraged to speak their minds, NCCU and its faculty remain slightly left of center.
The school already has a College Democrat organization.
"There's a budding effort to establish a college conservative group," Hall said. "Well, maybe 'budding' is an overstatement."
URL for this article:
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-450314.html
http://web.nccu.edu/studentlife/index.shtml
BY MEREDITH BUSE, The Herald-Sun
February 22, 2004 10:04 pm
http://www.herald-sun.com/sports/nccentral
DURHAM -- They call him Cornelius the Conservative.
Senior Cornelius Little says his views earned him the nickname at N.C. Central University, but that liberal classmates and professors respect and often seek his opinions.
"There's not an obstacle for me standing in class and people hearing my view," the political science major said. "Even when I tried to hide in the back of the room, they asked my opinion, or Dr. [Jarvis] Hall [a political science professor] would say, 'Cornelius, what do you think about the issue.'"
Although Little said some peers don't like his being both black and conservative, it is his experience that respect and discussion guide NCCU's classes.
"It's almost common in classes for us to take both sides of an issue," he said, with teachers asking students to defend opinions they don't hold personally.
While some conservative students at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill say they can't talk openly in some left-leaning classrooms, and while many universities debate whether party affiliation should affect whom they hire, NCCU's conservative students say they don't share those concerns.
A small group of students who want to form an NCCU College Republicans club give opinions freely in class despite their minority status in largely Democratic classes, they said.
"Everybody more or less speaks their mind," said senior Eric McNeill, who is a black Republican.
McNeill, who contacted someone with the National Republican Party last week for help starting the club, already meets casually to talk politics with about four conservative students, he said.
McNeill said other students sometimes tease him about his party affiliation, but he said professors at NCCU encourage discussion and dissent more than they do at Philadelphia's Temple University, from which he transferred.
McNeill also said many at NCCU agree with him on issues like religion, homosexuality and abortion, but they vote Democratic because their family does.
"Some of them might start voicing opinions when you start talking to them that are more conservative -- but they don't know that," he said. "Once they find out your views, they're not far off from everyone else's."
NCCU sophomore Beethowen Gregory, 39, who met McNeill in an English class last year, is the only Republican in his family, he said.
"I had a taste of the other side and had a chance to weigh which side could benefit me and the community more," said Gregory, a physical education major who hopes to coach high school or college sports after graduation.
As the father of a 16-month-old, Gregory said his commitment to the Republican Party is rooted in family values and religion, and he questions how Christians can vote any other way.
Another student, Jason Soper, is outnumbered both as a white student and as a Republican at NCCU. Soper, a junior who transferred from N.C. State University two years ago, said he only censors himself when he doesn't have personal experience with the topic, such as growing up without a parent or struggling to make ends meet.
"I tend not to say anything, because I don't know the background of everyone in my class," he said.
On most political issues, Soper said he openly shares his opinions because questioning views -- his own and others' -- and finding out the facts are important to democracy.
"We're at least able to get our viewpoints out there, then they're debated," said Soper, who said he likes the Republican emphasis on morality and less federal government involvement in personal lives.
Jarvis Hall, the political science professor who seeks Little's opinion and also the department chairman, said that even though conservative students are encouraged to speak their minds, NCCU and its faculty remain slightly left of center.
The school already has a College Democrat organization.
"There's a budding effort to establish a college conservative group," Hall said. "Well, maybe 'budding' is an overstatement."
URL for this article:
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-450314.html