Right is wrong for Blair's conservative constigent

For most Blair students on the Mar 20 walkout, political expression means cheering with peers and holding signs with slogans like "No Blood for Oil!" at spirited protests. But for outspoken conservatives such as junior Gordon Su, political expression makes classmates brand him greedy, heartless or even racist.

The conservative viewpoint is clearly in the minority at Blair, and especially during the war in Iraq, young conservatives are feeling the pressures of the largely liberal student body. According to an informal Silver Chips survey of 100 students on Mar 19 and 20, only 13 percent of Blair students are conservative, and 87 percent of Blazers agree that conservatives face hostility at Blair.

The silent right

The only organization at Blair that currently supports conservative views is Republicans United, founded by Su and junior James Gao to give the school a right-wing voice.

The club's last publicly sponsored event was a friendly Iraq debate between computer science teacher Dennis Heidler and social studies teacher George Vlasits in October. By contrast, Blair's liberal-oriented Students for Global Responsibility (SGR) has sponsored and organized several anti-war events since then. "It's clear that even the anarchists at Blair are more vocal than the Republicans," admits freshman Armin Rosen, a Republican himself.

Social studies teacher Kevin Moose blames the lack of conservative activity on insufficient initiative. "The liberals at Blair do a good job of getting together," he explains. "I haven't seen any effort by the conservatives to assemble."

Su insists that a lack of support from the staff and student body and the threat of being overwhelmed by opposition are the main factors discouraging most conservatives from speaking out. "Many liberals feel like no matter what you say, they're right because everybody else feels that way," he says. "If we tried to start something, we'd just open up hostility."

Sophomore Lauren Smith witnessed an example of such resentment firsthand during the walkout. "I saw some guys putting up posters to support the troops, and then a girl came yelling at them and ripping down the posters," she says.

But most conservative-liberal conflicts are not so overt. Social studies teacher Lansing Freeman says that although most conservative students are not directly harassed, many show reluctance to participate in class discussions and express themselves. "Some students have told me they no longer stand up for their ideas as forcefully because they are tired of fighting against the tide," he says.

Sophomore Neil Hofman, a conservative, denies any blatant intolerance on either side but says conservatives are "certainly talked down to and looked down on."

Su also cites a general conflict of background between liberals and conservatives as a cause of tension. "A lot of liberals' main opinion of conservatives is that you're rich and don't want to solve problems," he says. "A lot of times it's literally everybody against me."

Popular protest?

The school-sanctioned anti-war walkout (see story, page 11), which attracted nearly three-fourths of the student body brought out the large liberal sentiment of most Blair students. However, Su believes many participants at such events are simply jumping on the protest bandwagon. "I bet that 80 percent of the protesters don't know about the issues and are just following the crowds," he says.

He disagrees with the school's decision to excuse absences during the protest. "It's indirectly encouraging people to be anti-war," he says.

But Vlasits, SGR's sponsor, does not believe the walkout necessarily alienated pro-war students. "There was some peer pressure, but the students who disagreed just stayed in class and resisted very well," he says.

Rosen complains about another incident involving the school's inclination toward popular liberal viewpoints. He claims Vlasits forced him to attend a February anti-war teach-in. "We attended it as part of our CAP class," he says. "If attendance was optional, they sure didn't tell us."

Vlasits says he was opening up his students to views and opinions not favored in the media. "The media has become a cheerleader for war," he says. "It's very one-sided, and I wanted to expose students to the other side."

Blair's conservative students have decided to express their view on the war as well. In response to black armbands worn by student protestors, Hofman and sophomore Alan Bateman wore white armbands to show their support for the war. "All the people wearing black armbands made it seem like everybody in the school was anti-war," Bateman says. "We didn't feel it was true, so we decided to increase our visibility by wearing the white armbands."

Rosen is dedicated to his beliefs despite their unpopularity. "You're only pressured to believe something if you let yourself be pressured," he states. "I don't let myself be pressured."