DeSon is a fourth-year political science and history student.

By Jason S. DeSon

As vice president of the Political Science Student Organization, I had the privilege of attending the annual Political Science Faculty & Student Dinner.



I listened to a cross section of our department discuss their duties as professors. I could not help but notice one common element of their presentations to the thirty undergraduates in attendance, and that was their desire to provide the best education to their students. It was not to indoctrinate their students with their personal political ideologies, but rather to share with their students the excitement they feel in regard to the study of political science.

There is no attempt on this campus to sway students to a particular method of thinking. The professors are actually teaching us to think for ourselves.

Yet the perpetual cold war between the conservatives and liberals of this campus has begun to grow hot in recent weeks. It began with a column that made a crude yet accurate observation that this campus’ faculty lacks conservatives (“Campus suppresses ‘right’ education,” Daily Bruin, Oct. 31). Following the appearance of the article, another appeared that carried USAC into the fray (“Empowerment or an impediment?” Daily Bruin, Nov. 13). And Wednesday, Nov. 28, there was yet another anti-war rally that stressed the need for “workers,” a word often associated with the socialist doctrine of leftist politics, to unite to end the war.

Actually, I admire the courage of these protesters – it takes a lot of guts to take such a position. But when one speaker addressed the students holding American flags and old Bush/Cheney campaign signs as “nuts,” my blood began to boil. It demonstrated the danger of political ideology on this campus.

There is no room for either conservative or liberal doctrine at a public institution such as UCLA. I have yet to feel indoctrinated by any belief by any professor in the political science and history departments.

Perhaps this is because I am a university student, who by definition should be equipped with the mental capacities to know when I am being lured by propaganda rather than fact. Since the majority of students I encounter in my classes want to attend law school, I hope they too know the difference.

As a moderate Republican, there is nothing more I would like to see than the equal presentation of political ideologies. This is most difficult to do and for good reason.

The famous Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti said in one of his works, “the occupation punished (the university) in every conceivable way and in return the university punished the occupation in every way it could.” I imagine there are many within the University of California system that have felt this same way since Gov. Ronald Reagan reduced funding to the university. Conservatives punished the university and so the university will punish them. I can’t say I blame them. However, there is a greater principle that must be followed here.

Now this will probably be one of the few times that you will ever note a republican agreeing with the American Civil Liberties Union. But I am a firm believer in the concept of liberty and equality. In fact, equality was one of the many reasons the Republican Party was formed in the 1850s. I must concur with the precedent established by the ACLU that a specific ideology, not necessarily agreed to by everyone, has no place within the public education system. If there is no prayer or pledge of allegiance in class, then there better not be any attempt to indoctrinate students with liberal or conservative ideologies.

The university has thus far done a good job of keeping political groups independent.

However, the recent article titled, “Decisions of campus groups are justified” by USAC member Christopher R. Neal (Daily Bruin, Nov. 28) leaves me with the impression that there are ideological principles at play within the student government. Of course, politics and government go hand in hand. And in general, I agree with Neal that these clubs contribute greatly to diversity on this campus. However, I cannot help but conclude that there are some political motives being displayed here that fall within the dichotomy of political ideology. I will not criticize USAC for this, but I will caution that this could lead to further division, which I am sorry to say, we may already be experiencing. And this cannot be ignored, even if those students do not share the same objectives as USAC.

I cannot avoid the conclusion that there is some sort of blind devotion to the idea that all conservatives are somehow evil, that anyone who dares to call themselves a republican are bigoted and otherwise uncompassionate to the sufferings of the American people. Well, let me tell you that there are conservatives who have very similar opinions about liberals. Which should be no surprise if you have been keeping up with the Viewpoint section lately.

But both sides are wrong and that is why this campus needs to set ideology aside.

It is time for conservatives and liberals to work together and compromise. History has shown that the legislation that does the best for the people is the kind that is both conservative and liberal, or moderate.

My friends in the Bruin Democrats say they will try to convert me, my friends in the Bruin Republicans say that I should join in their fight with the campus. Well, I will not convert and I will not fight this campus. I love this school, I am proud to be here. I came to this school to learn the skills I need to be a successful attorney and a successful statesman. The first lesson in success that I learned here is that you must be willing to work with those around you, even if they disagree with you.