A Shift to the Left

By Kathleen Holder

“I voted for the first time this year,” said Melanie Glover, a second-year communications major. “I’m not that active in politics beyond voting. Everyone is super-opinionated one way or the other, and it’s hard to find people who are more in the middle, which is where I am.”

UC Davis students are more liberal politically than a generation ago, according to campus surveys. And, like Glover, many vote. But beyond that, both faculty members and students say, undergraduates are not easily stirred to activism.

Last November, students lined up in droves at a Memorial Union polling station, which, in a Yolo County first, was open for five days up through election day. For most undergraduates, it was the first time they were able to vote in a presidential election. Some waited up to two hours in line to cast their ballots, said junior Brian McInnis, who set up the early voting station.

Nationwide, voting is up among Millennial Generation students. Sixty-four percent of 18- to 24-year-olds turned out for the presidential election, said millennial expert Bob Filipczak.

And, more than Generation X, they lean to the left.

At UC Davis, the size of the political middle has not changed much; about 45 percent of UC Davis undergraduates, like Glover, describe themselves in surveys as politically middle of the road. However, over the past decade, those identifying themselves as liberal or far left grew from 30 percent to 40 percent, while the conservative to far-right bloc decreased from 20 percent to 15 percent.

On a variety of social and political issues, however, they are not easily pigeonholed. In surveys of incoming freshmen, the great majority support gay-marriage rights, the death penalty, tighter handgun control, higher taxes on the rich and abortion rights. More than half oppose affirmative action in colleges, but support bans on racist and sexist speech on campus. Nearly half frown on premarital sex.

Allison Coudert, religious studies professor, said she recently asked a class of about 40 students how many considered themselves feminist. “Not a hand went up.”

“The majority of the students are just beginning to explore social justice issues,” said Anita Poon, academic adviser in Asian American studies. “The majority are here to study, get through and move on with their lives.”

While enrollment in the Army ROTC has dropped from 90 students to 70 over the past two years, participation in protests against the Iraq war and other demonstrations has been so low that organizers talk about a need to make protests more fun.

Similarly, the Women’s Resources and Research Center relies more on entertainment than lectures to address serious issues; for instance, a stand-up comedy routine in the fall was used to convey messages about body image and sexually transmitted diseases.

“We used to be able to do a more direct program—a conference on a topic like nontraditional careers—and women students would come,” said center co-director Robin Whitmore. “We have to be a little more creative than that now.”

Making a difference

Paying the way

Plays well with others

Helicopter parents

Stressed and depressed

In the spirit

Beyond black and white

Born to be wired

Where’s my job?

Return to introduction

Kathleen Holder is associate editor of UC Davis Magazine. David Owen and Joanna
Robinson contributed to these stories. Photos by Debbie Aldridge and Rachel Van Blankenship.