Hampden-Sydney College may not be a typical example of a post-secondary institution. It is one of just three all-male liberal arts colleges left in the United States. (The others are Morehouse College in Georgia and Wabash College in Indiana.)
Though its red-brick campus in rural Prince Edward County, Virginia, may seem isolated, its students – by dint of modern telecommunications and by their own desire – are not set apart from the world at large. Their opinions on culture and politics are as valid as those of any other students or other individuals of college age.
That, at least, is the impression one receives when talking to student government president Kenneth Simon, age 20, and former HSC College Republicans chair Conor Sanders, 21. Both of them believe that their concerns are those of “regular folk” as well as those of other college students.
Animate One, Animate All
The public policy issues that animate college students, said Simon in an interview with the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner, are “the same policies animating regular Americans of adult age. It’s because of issues like cap-and-trade and the health care bill, which [are] just fundamentally against limited government.” That is why, he explained, “Republicans all over the country are saying: We can’t have more of the government taking away the rights of the regular folks.”
His view was echoed by Sanders, who is also secretary-treasurer of the Hampden-Sydney student government.
“One thing that is really starting to sink in,” said Sanders, “especially with the recent economic downturn, is where the country stands financially.”
Sanders worries that “we are not seeing fiscal restraint in Washington” and believes that “people are really upset at where the Democrats have taken us in terms of the health care bill.” He asks: “Can we really afford almost a trillion dollars” or an estimated trillion-plus “in health-care costs with this new health-care-for-all legislation?”
Common Values
Simon sees resonance among college students with the Tea Party movement.
It is, he argues, “a movement that’s accepted by a lot of College Republicans, because whether or not their attitudes are what we’d like, necessarily, they are fighting for the principles that College Republicans and Republicans all over the country are fighting for,” namely “limited government and the rights of the common American people to control their destiny.”
The economic concerns of Tea Partiers are starting to hit home with college students, especially those about to graduate, noted Sanders.
Economic Realities
“I think people are really starting to wake up,” he said, that those his age “who are coming into the real world where we actually have to handle our own finances [and] look for jobs, [that] they know there aren’t jobs out there for us right now. People are really concerned about where their future lies.”
In order to draw people within the Republican Party together, Sanders said, “People need to stop playing some of these partisan, bickering games within the party.”
He thinks that “bipartisanship is something that can work and should work. We’re living in such a polarizing culture” and that “we really need to take a step back, take a deep breath and realize that this is America and if we’re going to save our country, we need to work together.”
Civil Discourse
Sanders points to his own campus as an example of what can work.
“Here at Hampden-Sydney we like to have a civil discourse, where we can sit down with someone who may be polar opposites of what we believe and have a real conversation about the issues and not necessarily about the politics that’s involved.”
To get America “back on track,” Sanders said, “let’s talk about issues and stop doing [these] partisan, personal, political attacks. Let’s get back to what our Founders envisioned our country to be.”
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