“For the sake of argument, what would happen if NYU banned something like anti-war T-shirts?” the professor asked. A giggle erupted among the hundreds of students dozing through the past hour and a half of their evening class.
“It would lose its entire population,” someone replies.
Such a remark is typical for an NYU classroom. The university is known as a haven for young liberals who feel secured not only by the variety of left-winged professors, but also by the metropolis itself.
New York is defined by its tradition of endorsed activism and present day sponsored individualism and it has the ability, like many urban environments, to foster young Democrats.
Jacob Steinberg, 18, a Jewish history major and freshman at NYU, has always been a Democrat and so has his family. However, “being in such a diverse place, like New York, has kind of tested and strengthened my political values and my party affiliation.”
According to a study by the Young Voter’s Strategy, 41 percent of the youth vote is Democratic, whereas only 31 percent is Republican. The so-called “impressionable years” highlight the idea that the political beliefs of young adults are less stable and informed than those of adults, and are therefore more open to influence from outside outreach.
“I’ve become more liberal than my family ever since I moved to New York. Surprise, surprise!” Andrea Gomes, 20, a history and anthropology major and a junior at NYU, said. “It is a place that opens doors and if you stay closed-minded you’ll miss them all.”
NYU’s reputation invites Obama and Clinton buttons to decorate Washington Square Park’s sidewalks while its campus celebrates its triumph as a cultural mecca.
Although the 163 represented nationalities prove the university’s diversity, a variety in political ideals appears to be rather scarce.
“Finding a Republican at NYU is like finding a straight man at NYU, it’s rare and surprising,” Ryan Fogarty, 21, a dramatic writing major and senior at Tisch, said.
Not only do young adults appear to adopt their parents’ political ideals and intensify them while at college, but since the years of “finding oneself” correspond to the years of “finding one’s party,” young adults tend to continue their young partisanship throughout the course of their lives, the Young Voter’s Strategies study says.
A Steinhardt studio art student like Thomas McDonel, 22, also not a unicorn among the sea of donkeys, has found a different way of expressing his political ideals.
Instead of attending rallies and purchasing fan merchandise, he does graffiti on enlarged pictures of dollar bills. Whether to interpret insult or glory from the paintings is subjective and left in the eyes of the viewer, however, the idea of redefining an American symbol into a neon sign that reads “candy painted” gives the impression of liberal New Yorker thinking.
“It’s the two-for-one-deal that attracts so many liberal students,” Simon Thorn Mullin, 20, a politics major and junior at NYU, said. “You buy an open-minded education, and get an inspiring urban environment for free.”