The ultimate battle for Yale's political galaxy

Being Liberal

"Our voices are being silenced by the majority."

"We're being unfairly attacked because of our culture."

Only at Yale—well, probably the rest of the nation as well—will you hear these words become the mantra not of historically marginalized racial or ethnic groups but of hard-line political conservatives.

"Help! Help! We're being persecuted!" From just about any other group, that would elicit empathy from Yalies, but the plaintive cries of reactionaries fall on deaf ears. The truth of the matter is that to some degree the incessant whine of the politically right (or wrong as the case may be) is justified. To be sure, leftist, liberal sentiments are prevalent on campus. I mean, it makes sense. Yale's selection process, although inherently flawed and certainly not wholly meritocratic, does manage to hone its entering class down to some of the best and brightest. With a class of the intellectually above-average, it is logical that the ensuing political leanings will be the most reasoned, the best thought out.

And what political viewpoint is more reasonably thought out than that of the left? Thus, the obvious effect is liberal dominance. While that may seem like a gross overstatement, it does have a nice ring to it, does it not?

To be fair, though, it is not simply the intelligence of the student body that draws them to leftist political groups. Simply put, liberals are unpretentious, or at least less pretentious than the competition. Pomp and circumstance, as just about any well-adjusted liberal on campus can tell you, should only enter into college life during the graduation ceremony, and then only as the song that ushers the graduating class down the aisle.

Liberals, on the other hand, throw pomp and circumstance straight to the four winds. We don't have to worry about the evenness of our button-down collars, or whether to use the half or full Windsor. Liberals, unfettered by overly ornate traditions, clothing, and rituals, can spend more time worrying about what really counts: social justice, sweatshops, urban blight. So, to sum up, Liberals on Yale's campus are a whole lot cooler.

—Simon Brandler,
TC '01, Liberal Party

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