Editor's note: Nick New is a fellow editor at The Daily Helmsman.
College campuses nationwide have become increasingly politically polarized, and the University of Memphis is no exception. Campus organizations, however, advocate for spaces for like-minded students to meet, discuss, and share their values.
Pew Research Center cites evidence that in nine countries, the desire for political change is higher among young adults than older adults. Their findings are echoed by Benjamin Shedd, the University of Memphis's Turning Point USA chapter president, who believes that young people ought to have such an outlet, like how TPUSA operates, to talk about what they believe in.
“It’s just doing what we feel is right,” Shedd said. “It’s what we genuinely believe in and, for a lot of us, it’s a genuine want to actually help people.”
The formation of these communities is also backed by data from The Lumina Foundation notes how college campuses “function as places where students feel safe, respected, and empowered to speak their minds—regardless of political beliefs, race, or gender.”
The formations of communities bring together individuals with similar viewpoints and encourage open conversations with others who feel differently from them. These communities can help to reduce tension and create a more inclusive and respectful campus environment.
“That’s something Turning Point offers to people,” Shedd said. “[It’s] meant to just build more of a camaraderie among people and give [them] a space where they can go and make friends with people that believe similar beliefs as they do.”
“While I personally disagree with almost all of the messages Turning Point puts out, I respect the right of the organization to say it,” said Nick New, a member of the University of Memphis’s Stonewall Tigers organization. “The world needs a lot less divisiveness and political polarization, and the way we should go about that, in my opinion, is just by having respectful conversations with a diverse crowd.”
The Lumina Foundation went on to reinforce these thoughts, saying that data shows that despite media talking about political disruption on university grounds, students have “rich, thoughtful, and respectful experiences on campus even amid broader political upheaval.”
Heidi Wills can be contacted at hkwills@memphis.edu.
