Not that I’m a Republican (I’m an independent), but I am apart of a minority of students with conservative/libertarian views on an overtly liberal college campus, or should I say just a college campus in general.

Now, of course, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions; I could care less if most of you believed Bernie the communist was going to save you from those evil one-percenters.

I also understand that millennials are overwhelmingly liberal, but why is that? Could it have something to do with the indoctrination by professors in the classroom? Notice I didn’t say “teachings.”

From what I’ve seen, just about every professor I’ve had either flat out said they were liberal, or sure seemed like one. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some great professors and have learned things in those classes but everything, including the curriculum, seems very one-sided.

A good indicator of this is the irrational hatred towards our new president (yes, he is, in fact, your president). About half of my classes are just anti-Trump narratives at this point.

Again, you’re more than free to loathe Trump (just as I did Obama), but to spew your philosophies and opinions on the class as if they’re fact is not teaching its propaganda. If I wanted propaganda I would watch “fake” news CNN (thanks for coining that one, Mr. President).

Of course, this is not limited to just Pace; it’s hundreds if not thousands of universities in America, and it’s a real issue to those directly affected by it. I’ve read horror stories of conservative college students being failed by leftist professors because they had a dissenting opinion on an essay.

I’ve heard of Trump supporters having had their property vandalized just for being seen with a “Make America Great Again” hat on (but Hillary attire was socially acceptable).

I’ve heard of instances where conservatives don’t want to participate in class discussions because they’re afraid the “tolerant” liberals in their classes will beat them into submission. The double standard is appalling. I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to call it oppression; it’s just an unfortunate fact (in my opinion) about our academia.

Furthermore, what kind of message is this saying about our institution of academia in general? Colleges love to champion the idea of “diversity” but I guess not diversity of thought in many cases.

I just read an article about an elementary school teacher who gave an assignment forcing her students to use words to fill in the blanks describing President Trump; as you can guess, they were not positive adjectives. One father complained and told this teacher to keep her political views to herself and leave them out of the lessons. She responded by saying that she has “freedom of speech.”

What kind of answer is that? Of course, you have freedom of speech but not to impose your opinions on students and present them as fact.

So what can be done about this? Well, for one thing, it is important to speak up if you’re a conservative/libertarian. Let your presence be known in class; you’re entitled to your opinions just as much as they are to theirs, even though your views are very unpopular (just be prepared for all the accusations of being a sexist/racist/homophobe/xenophobe and whatever other -phobe/-ist remarks they can come up with hurled your way).

It actually has its advantages: One is that you’re constantly around dissenting opinions, so your view is always being challenged, allowing you to grow intellectually. They live in an echo chamber of like-minded people who keep reaffirming their views to each other. It also shows that you don’t subscribe to what many of your peers believe and are being indoctrinated into. You can think for yourself and aren’t drinking the Kool-Aid.

Even though we conservatives/libertarians constantly have to fight for our views on a daily basis, just remember we have this going for us: we won in this election, and they didn’t. The Clinton monster was defeated, hopefully for good.

We know Trump is doing a great job, whether it is getting us out of TPP (which even Bernie would have done), getting rid of stupid regulations, putting a freeze on government jobs, or meeting with our closest allies such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seriously discuss the Middle East situation, not tip-toe around it like the last administration.

There are powerful forces, like all the low-life bums in the media or the “deep state” holdovers from the Obama administration, trying to bring him down with sabotage and fake news, but we’re still rooting for him; maybe things are starting to shape up for us.