WATCH: Correspondents weigh in on campus conservatism as college towns flip blue
Three Campus Reform Correspondents discussed what being conservative at school means now that data shows college towns are turning blue.
In light of a recent Politico report highlighting how college towns are flipping blue, three Campus Reform correspondents—William Biagini, Lena Branch, and Kale Ogunbor—appeared on Fox and Friends to discuss what being a conservative means in these towns.
According to the report, 38 of America’s 171 college towns have flipped blue since 2000. 117 of those towns at-large have generally shifted Democrat.
“I think a lot of this is happening because a lot of my generation, Gen Z, gets our information from social media,” Ogunbor told host and former Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Lawrence Jones, “but also because of the rhetoric that professors have on these college campuses.”
For instance, UC Santa Barbara hosted events about “white privilege” and “microaggressions.” “And that only sends a message to Gen Z,” Ogunbor said, “that there’s only one way to vote and because of our age, we are default Democrats.”
[RELATED: UC Santa Barbara offers white privilege, microaggressions workshops]
Biagini testified that while he was reporting for Campus Reform, leftist protesters told him to “kill himself.”
“What this shows is that professors are perpetuating both anti-American sentiments as well as liberal indoctrination in the classroom,” said Biagini
“[We] absolutely have to make sure that history and civics are taught in the classroom again,” Branch argued. “It’s time to get American history back in the classrooms and get this DEI funding and programs out of college institutions.”
[RELATED: PROF. GIORDANO: Divert DEI Funding to Make a Real Impact]
Asked to give advice to the conservative student afraid to speak up, Ogunbor said, “If you don’t speak out now, I don’t [know] how conservatives our age are going to be able to speak out in 10, 15, 20 years.”
“It’s honestly not a big deal if people like you based on politics. It’s just politics at the end of the day, and … our nation is on the line because of stuff like this.”
Biagini concluded by explaining the roots of his conservatism. It’s the free market economy and freedom of expression students can enjoy, he said. Many students don’t have those luxuries.
“I think we need to have more study abroads in … socialist countries,” Biagini said, “so they can see the effects that [freedom] has on nations that don’t value free speech like we have here.”
