Opinion | Affirmative Action and Free Speech on Campus: 12 Students Discuss

Ashley,


28, Texas, Republican, white

Inflation.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

Debt and health care.

Magnus,


18, Illinois, independent, white

Division.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

Division, too.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

Secularism and education.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

Danger and gun control.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

I’m going to say student loans and health care.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

Poverty and taxation.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

Lack of proper education and ignorance.

Christian,


21, Alabama, independent, white

Money in politics.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

It’s one thing to disagree with someone. But when you can’t get along, nothing is going to get done. And that’s what’s happening now. We can’t settle anything, and the government is not efficient.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

There are certain factions of the population that are pushing to start to blur the lines between the separation of church and state. I believe that could be one of the most threatening plights against democracy and just the populace as a whole, mainly by enforcing a single ideology on what is literally thought of as the melting pot of the world.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

When I was in school, we would get threats of someone shooting up the school. People would call and threaten to bomb the school. We’d have to go to lockdown all day. We would hear a loud noise, and everyone in the class would go quiet and look at each other, thinking, “Oh, we’re next.” Someone got shot at a party last weekend at my school. There’s just a lot of fear.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

Unheard.

Aquoina ,


22, New York, independent, Black

Disassociated.

Ashley,


28, Texas, Republican, white

I don’t really know another word to say it, but kind of “effed over,” I guess.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

Just fine.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

Small.

Christian,


21, Alabama, independent, white

Overwhelmed.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

Excessive stress.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

Grateful but doubtful.

Magnus,


18, Illinois, independent, white

Excited but new to this.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

Unlooked at.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

Too necessary.

Lucy,


20, New Jersey, independent, Latina

Overworked.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

Ugh, college is such a big requirement in this day and age. You want to get a good degree. You want to get to a good school. You want to get a good-paying job. But it’s so difficult to get there, from tuition to being able to get to your classes safely or even just attending school safely. And no matter how much you say, “This is not working” or “This isn’t safe” or “This isn’t working for me” or “I need help,” they don’t offer it. They don’t have it for you. So it’s kind of frustrating.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

I would say some professors. I would say the dean, for sure. This is specifically about me being a woman of color in school. I have white teachers who use harmful rhetoric in their lessons, or they say things about how they don’t feel like racism is that big of a deal anymore. For example, I’m a speech pathology major. And we were talking about how dialects pass down and change and shift. And this one white female student said that she totally gets it because when Black people talk, you can really hear the soul of the slave. And the teacher was like, “Yeah, that’s kind of what I was talking about.” Oh, my God, I thought, “This is unreal.” And I said, “I just don’t think that the way that you said it or what exactly you said is OK in any way.” And the teacher said they were just giving out ideas and everybody has the right to say how they feel. I sit there in this class with predominantly white students, and I’m saying that this kind of statement is harmful and it’s not OK. And yet nothing is done about it, and it just continues. It’s kind of isolating.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

We would like to have new signage on campus because we have no idea where half our classes are. One of the people in my classes was walking around looking for five minutes to find a bathroom. But the administration just said that it was too much money, and they don’t want to do it.

Ashley,


28, Texas, Republican, white

The student loan forgiveness — I do think that’s great. But I feel very behind in school because I didn’t want to take out loans. I did the classes that I could pay for now. Now it’s like, “Well, if I didn’t worry about that, I could have been with my friends, who got their bachelor’s.” I feel very behind in life now.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

I feel free. I can dress how I want. I can do what I want. I can eat what I want. I get to do what I want. And I can make good choices for myself.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

I’m learning stuff that I’ve wanted to learn for years.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

Oh, I can finally have all four of my cats.

Aquoina ,


22, New York, independent, Black

I feel like I’ve gotten my love for education back. Since before the pandemic, I feel like I’ve just been going through the motions. But this is one of the first semesters in a while where I’m actually engaged. I love my professors. I’m obsessed with my classes. So it’s really refreshing because I haven’t felt this way since high school.

Lucy,


20, New Jersey, independent, Latina

I like meeting different people. It’s just really exciting how we all just get together in one place, and we all vibe.

Lucy,


20, New Jersey, independent, Latina

I want to work as a forensic interviewer. I hope to get that knowledge of how to talk to children who have been sexually abused, how to word things in a way that I’m not trying to force an answer out of them but trying to have them just speak to me. But I feel like college is filled with a lot of extra classes that we don’t need. And it just takes up a lot of time and money when we could just go directly and be focused on what we want to do.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

I’m aiming to be a pediatrician. And that’s just not something I can do without a college degree.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

I want to do clinical psychology. I definitely need a college degree for that.

Magnus,


18, Illinois, independent, white

I would like to be a film director. And I chose to go to college because not only is it a good place to learn, but the connections that you’ll make help you network for things in film and television and multimedia production.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

I want to be a nurse. So I’m trying to learn about the body and everything and how to actually speak to patients unbiased, everything like that.

Ashley,


28, Texas, Republican, white

I have no idea what I want to major in. I’m just doing my basics right now. I’m 28. Like I said, I feel like I’m behind. But basically, college is just to have more opportunities. I feel like nowadays you just need something under your belt.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

So I think the cost of college takes out the benefits you’re getting from it. Prices just keep on going up. I’m taking so many useless classes that I’m paying for that have zero effect on what I want to do in life. And a lot of my classes are still online, so I’m not getting the full college experience. A lot of careers, you don’t even need college anymore.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

I’m taking an art history class. I want to be a lawyer. That has nothing to do with the other. So why should I pay for something that I don’t even want to take?

Ashley,


28, Texas, Republican, white

I did probably a year or two of community college. And then I took a really long break. And I’ve worked at jobs. I’ve had my apartment. That whole time that I was living out in the real world, I didn’t use any of that. Everything I’m learning, I’m just like, “I don’t need this.”

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

It was just a lot of essays. A lot of them asked the same question.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

Sometimes. But a lot of times, with the essays, it’s more just kind of writing what you think the college wants to hear.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

It’s kind of like you have to sell yourself to them, make you seem more than what you are to try to get there.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

Not exaggerate the truth, but you just have to think back to “What am I doing? What am I trying to do? What is my end goal? What are my goals?”

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

So I don’t think it’s completely fair. While you’re in high school, people who have higher income, they’ve gotten higher SAT scores because they could afford tutors. And they could have gone to better schools because their parents could afford it. So people from lower backgrounds, we’re at a disadvantage. And when applying, your G.P.A.s are lower. Your SAT scores could be lower. And you’re at a disadvantage compared to others.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

My parents have four kids, all a year apart. So we’re all going to school at the same time. They’re not going to be able to fund us going through school. So my mind-set in high school was “I need to do activities. I need to get this done so I can be competitive, and I can get this G.P.A. and get these test scores.” And this is all done by myself. I don’t know if it is fair, because I felt like I did so much just so I could get a shoe in the door just to stay in state and get to this one specific college without really having to dream further than where I could reach.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

When I was deciding on colleges to go to, it was never like, “This is the college that I want to go to” or “I like this school a lot.” It was more of, like, I wanted to have in-state tuition. I wanted to make sure that they would have ample financial aid. So it was never “I like their team” or “I like the school. I like their colors.”

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

For me, I was probably a little bit advantaged just because I’m a white male. And white people tend to have a little bit more advantages, because I was lucky enough to be able to have an ACT tutor, whereas I know a lot of people aren’t lucky enough to be able to do that. I very much struggle with math, and I was able to raise my math score because of that. And I was able to get better scholarships because of that.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

I think the process was fair and unfair. I think it was fair that I got into the places I deserved to get into. I got the scores I deserved to get. Whatever I put in, I got back what I feel I deserved. But in certain things, I feel that the adults in my life, at my school, like my counselors and stuff — they discouraged me from applying to pretty much every place. They discouraged all of my friends. They told everybody, like, regardless of their G.P.A., their extracurriculars, whatever, that they weren’t getting in anywhere and to settle for the closest state school. And I went to a private school where they focused on the 10 kids with, like, the highest G.P.A.s. They told them to apply to Harvard, to Carnegie Mellon, whatever. And then for the rest of you, just go to a random state school.

Aquoina ,


22, New York, independent, Black

Yeah, I wanted to agree with what Sofia said, completely, because I went to a public charter school in New York that had a certain amount of resources. We had an ACT tutor come in. But the thing was, it was only limited to certain people. I was a part of the cohort where all our classes were advanced. And our school did prioritize us over people. But there are people who also need your help in these regular classes, who also need help with these personal essays, these responses. Other tutors — I know I had to pull a few strings to get my personal ACT tutor. But somebody else who probably was maybe No. 37 out of the whole school, they didn’t have those opportunities. So it’s just more like an accessibility problem, basically.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

As a white woman, it’s hard for me to speak on the issues that other students of different races face. But I feel like a lot of issues come from the otherization and the ostracization of minority groups. And so I feel like, by introducing affirmative action, that would further otherize that population that’s receiving that benefit because it could be looked at as, “Oh, look at that. They’re only here because of this.” And that could potentially be harmful to the people. It could just negate itself and its benefit. Yes, it’s getting students into this school, but is it really fixing the underlying divisions and the underlying thought processes that are causing the division that we see?

Lucy,


20, New Jersey, independent, Latina

Basically, I agree with Lauren. I’m sort of in the middle. I’m for affirmative action because I am Hispanic. But I do feel that it’s going to be that label that’s going to be put on these minority groups that come in, especially Hispanics, that they don’t deserve to be here, they only got in here because of this. There’s this whole labeling theory that they’re going to end up believing that they shouldn’t be there. I just feel like if we were to do it, there’s just some things we would have to tweak, because we can’t just change everyone’s perspective on things or the way they think, even though we want something good to come out of it.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

I think the biggest issue with affirmative action is that it implies that people of color wouldn’t be able to get that position on their own. What we need is maybe a blanket way of admitting students that doesn’t have anything to do with race. If a straight white man was competing against me and we had the same test scores and they had to choose, what’s happened more often than not, in history, is that they’ll choose the white man. And the thing about it is, we do have the test scores, and we do have the people who want to compete and who are competitive. There’s plenty of us who will make it. We just need you to give us the space to do so.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

My mom always says that in order for me to be competitive, just in the country and climate we live in, is that I have to be better than average in order to be considered the same. That’s just the rule I’ve lived by, at this point. And that’s just what I do and my siblings do. We always try to excel further so we can still be noticed outside of whatever it is. And that way, when we make it to a place we want to be, we can guarantee that we can tell everyone we got there on our own merit. No, it’s just me, not affirmative action, not because I’m a person of color, they need to fit a quota, that kind of thing.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

Affirmative action really doesn’t fix the overall socioeconomic disparities between the groups that lead to those problems in the first place.

Aquoina ,


22, New York, independent, Black

In theory, it’s a good idea. But like Lauren said and everybody else was saying, it creates this label, even though I believe the label will be there anyway. I feel like when you go to a prestige school, as a minority, there are people that look at you like, “What are you doing here anyway?” And that just goes for any minority and things like that. Ultimately, it does have to be, I guess, like Lucy said, tweaked in certain ways and fixed in certain ways. A lot of the time, what happens is on these campuses where people do push for diversity, and they push those few people in, now you have them plastered all over school posters and taking a fake-laughing cameo just so you could see “Oh, look, there’s a brown woman. There’s an Asian woman here, the Hispanic woman there. OK, so it’s diverse enough.” But it’s really not, because when you walk around in classes midday, it’s a whole sea of white people. So it’s like, if you’re going to do one thing, you’re going to have to work that diversity into every single thing you do in that school.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

So I have a lot of different science classes right now. But the classes that I had before in music and stuff — I don’t know anything about that. I don’t really know if I could trust that judgment. But some of the professors, when you hear them lecture, you can tell they absolutely know about their topic and everything. And some of them, you wonder how they’re even there in front of you.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

So far, most of my professors have been good. So I haven’t really had an issue with this.

Lucy,


20, New Jersey, independent, Latina

Well, it really just depends. I’ve taken a lot of psych classes, since I’m a psych major. So most of my psych professors are professors who have their doctor’s degree or are currently getting their doctor’s degree. So my logic is that if they’re getting their doctorates, they know what they’re talking about, because then they just wouldn’t be there. So I feel like they know what they’re doing. But I have had some professors who — they’re just there for a check, and they’re just trying to clock in that hour and then get out.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

So I would say that the experience that I have been through — it didn’t affect me, and it wasn’t harmful at all in the same way that it was for anybody else. But my first semester, I had an English class where the professor brought her own opinions into everything a little too much. And it wasn’t like saying, “Oh, this is bad. This is good.” It was to the extreme. I remember there was a conversation about how, in a poem, there’s a line that’s mentioned where it just says the girl has blond pigtails. And she just started kind of ranting about how the little girl is being fetishized for her blond hair and how women are viewed as objects. And don’t get me wrong: I think that women struggle with that in so many different circumstances. I know I have experienced it. I know probably every woman has experienced something like that. But it was a little too much. And I think that saying stuff like that could also be triggering to some students. So I think that having some sort of advance warning for a class where that would be brought up would be nice, in advance, because I was just looking to learn more grammar-related things, not necessarily the thought process of a little girl’s pigtails being why she’s an object.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

You get off track. And I think that it made a lot of people uncomfortable — a lot of girls uncomfortable, specifically.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

This was back when we had just gone back to campus after Covid. Everybody at my school was very, very cognizant about wearing masks, even outside, walking around on campus. I was in a lecture with maybe 50 people. And everybody is wearing masks, except for the professor. And he felt the need to go on a 45-minute tirade about how we were guinea pigs, that he used to work for Big Pharma, inserting his opinion into something that was not at all involved with the class. It took 45 minutes out of our class. One girl got up and left. There were multiple people who made comments. We made it very evident that we were unhappy, uncomfortable. And yet he continued. So I found that to be a little baffling.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

Free speech is being able to express what you think and being able to express your beliefs without necessarily being judged. When we express our beliefs, I think it’s important not to judge other people and to be open and understanding and try and see where they’re coming from. And I think that’s a really important thing to be able to have on a college campus.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

I haven’t, actually.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

I think it’s just being able to say what you think and feel but understanding that there are consequences and repercussions for it.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

So I do think that some things that you say can invite judgment and sometimes rightfully so. And so certain consequences might be people shunning you or disagreeing with you or hopefully setting you straight if you said something truly terrible.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

During one of my first classes this year, the professor mentioned Trump’s name, like, 15 times in the first lecture. And it kind of forces you not to say anything that goes against her beliefs, because now I know that’s what she believes in. And if I say something that might disagree with her, she would get offended and treat me differently.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

Multiple times, yeah.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

I went to a Catholic high school in rural New Jersey. I got labeled as being a snowflake because I don’t think I tried to talk about a lot too much, but we really only had maybe three kids of color in my grade. It was very white. We had two Black kids and one Asian girl. That was it. I had a friend, and her boyfriend would say slurs. And I was like, “Hey, you’re being racist. Stop.” And I got, like, screamed at in the cafeteria, and I had to eat lunch alone in the music room for three days. Just little things like that, they really added up. And I got labeled as being lesser than my other classmates because of that — by teachers, too.

Aquoina ,


22, New York, independent, Black

I used to go to temple. There was a text message, a group chat leaked. And there was one girl, not Black, who had said something like, “You guys always play the slavery card.” And it went viral, obviously. I want to say this was June 2020, around the time of George Floyd. People don’t ever keep the same energy when somebody is actually in front of them. It’s always that false sense of security you have behind your phones. But when somebody of a minority is standing right in front of your face and waiting for you to say something so you can actually have a conversation — let’s have a conversation about it — it’s crickets.

Lucy,


20, New Jersey, independent, Latina

I’m in a class that’s called Social Injustice and Inequalities. Our first day, our professor asked us to establish some classroom rules. As classmates, we agreed that if we all have different opinions, then that’s OK. And if we were all to get heated at some point because of these different opinions, we would all take a moment to process those feelings and respectfully try to speak about it and understand the other person’s point of view.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

I feel like the teachers or professors normally want us to give our opinions and want to foster an open discussion. But you’re always kind of wary of what that open discussion might come up to be.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

I’m incredibly lucky to go to a really diverse school where white people are actually not the majority population there, which has been very different from any of my other schooling. There is a very encouraging environment that encourages people to embrace their backgrounds, embrace their differences. I will say, though it is diverse, it is lacking, at least from my experience and who I’ve interacted with, in more of the right side and more conservative viewpoints. There’s a Marxist club or a Marxist organization. Then there are conservative groups — there’s just much more diversity on the left, if that makes sense.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

So through my experiences, my professors have — the ones who are more on the left were openly being on the left. But the teachers who I would consider on the right, they were not voicing their opinions. There are professors on both sides. But the left were more vocal. Those on the right weren’t as proud to express their viewpoints.

Ashley,


28, Texas, Republican, white

Professors have said that you can express yourself. Political viewpoints — they really want to know. But mostly, I think that what I’ve come across is just everyone just stuck with kind of the same idea. There were a few undecided on or had no opinion on a subject. But no one really branched out. I don’t think it was because they didn’t feel comfortable. I think it was just because we all just kind of thought the same thing or had the same viewpoints.

Makayla,


22, Florida, Republican, white

Well, I think I already kind of messed up the way I should have done it. But I think there’s a lot that I could have done better in college. And I think that’s pretty much what I would have laid out — just all the stuff that could have been prevented, could have done better.

Michelle,


20, Indiana, Democrat, Asian

I think my 40-year-old self would probably just tell me to relax and also have some fun in college, too.

Sofia,


19, Virginia, Democrat, Latina

I think that my 40-year-old self would tell me to be more personable and try to make more connections early on. Don’t worry about picking a major the second that you get there. Take some different classes. Figure it out. And do your homework.

Magnus,


18, Illinois, independent, white

Probably to just see different opportunities, take advantage of everything you can and make sure you make the most of it while you’re there.

Aquoina ,


22, New York, independent, Black

I think my 40-year-old self would just tell me that no matter how many mistakes or whatever path you thought you were going to originally do in college, you’re going to get to where you’re going to get to. So let’s try not to stress too much. Ask for help. Network. Have fun.

Christian,


21, Alabama, independent, white

Probably just do more things. Be more involved with student organizations or anything that interests you. And if there’s a place for you to pursue that, do it. You’re never again going to get an opportunity like being on a college campus, so I think you should make the most of it.

Ashley,


28, Texas, Republican, white

Definitely don’t worry about money. Don’t worry about money, girl. Just do all the classes. Pay for what you can.

Lucy,


20, New Jersey, independent, Latina

I feel like my older self would tell me to go to a different school. I feel like I just really jumped into the school that I’m in now because it just offered me the most aid. But my education would have been a whole lot better at a state school than it is in a private school because I’m just putting a lot more money into the school when I’m not getting the education I feel like I’m paying for.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

Take care of your mental health, don’t be afraid about joining clubs and do your homework early.

Nick,


20, Kentucky, independent, white

Just coast a little bit.

Nathan,


21, California, independent, white

Definitely make more connections and just have more fun.

Lauren,


23, Georgia, independent, white

Get involved in research, take advantage of everything there and keep up an exercise routine.

Jasmine,


23, Florida, Democrat, Black

Definitely stress less and slow it down. I’ve been going so hard since high school. When Covid shut down schooling, it forced me to stop and stay home and take a couple days off and do a lot less. It felt really good. I realized that I didn’t have to continuously be doing all this.