Campus Reform, a group which, according to their website, is “designed to provide conservative activists with the resources, networking capabilities and skills they need to revolutionize the struggle against leftist bias and abuse on college campuses” has recently come out with a report calling SMU a liberal university.
They cite several reasons as evidence for their conclusion. The first is that the number of groups they categorize as “liberal” outweighs the conservative ones. Among these liberal groups, they list College Democrats, Democracy Matters, Amnesty International, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Women’s Interest Network. They list College Republicans as the only conservative group on Campus.
They also reference statistics from the Huffington Post, saying that of the professors who gave money to political campaigns in the 2008 elections, 84 percent of them gave to democratic candidates. They also refer to SMU’s required reading program and last year’s freshman required reading: “Dreams of My Father.” They use this as further evidence that our campus leans to the left.
The Daily Campus asked several members of the student body what their thoughts were on this. Here is what they said.
“I don’t think anyone could spend a day on SMU’s campus and go away thinking it’s liberal. Anyone who says that clearly has spent no time here. There is a reason SMU has the stereotype of being a conservative university.”
— Katie Perkins, Student Body Secretary
“One course does require ‘Dreams of My Father’ to be read in class, but only one course. Another course’s requirement is ‘End the Fed’ by conservative Ron Paul. Point: SMU presents a fair and balanced education IF the students look for it.”
— Spencer Matthews, President of University Libertarians
“I think the claim made by this website that SMU is liberal is completely unfounded and not based on facts. We have a faculty and administration committed to maintain a non-partisan atmosphere on campus, and we have a student body that tends to hold conservative views. SMU students can decide for themselves whether or not they agree with the report.”
— Chad Cohen, President of College Republicans
“I disagree about there being more democratic groups than republican ones. Most of the democratic groups listed are inactive and have been for a while. As a student, I feel the student body leans to the conservative side while the faculty leans to the left.”
— Ali Gatewood, junior real estate finance and economics double major
“When I was doing campus tours and interviewing students before I was even enrolled, I found all students who identified as conservative found SMU to be too liberal, while all liberal-identified students lamented an excessively conservative campus, leading me to believe that SMU must have the perfect balance, because no one is happy.”
-Aaron Barnes, Co-president of Spectrum
“I disagree. It’s a primarily conservative campus, but we have our fair share of liberals. I don’t think liberals are discouraged. It’s just very well-known that SMU is conservative.”
–Michelle Pillars, junior chemistry major
“Campusreform.org is an outside organization with no ties to the SMU community, which is attempting to impose its views on the SMU student body. Conservatives, moderates and liberals are all able to express themselves in SMU’s various political clubs that range from partisan (College Democrats, College Republicans, University Libertarians), to non-partisan (Democracy Matters), to academic (PSS). More importantly, all the political groups that currently exist at SMU are clubs that are supportive of SMU, unlike campusreform.org, which criticizes SMU students, faculty and staff as being tools of a secret evil liberal agenda.”
— David DelaFuente, President of College Republicans.
