it’s so funny to me that conservatives think the reason university students become more liberal is because of the actual course material and not like. the fact that universities in the US introduce are oftentimes the first place Americans are introduced to a walkable environment with affordable health care, with community spaces for any affiliation under the sun where they give you free resources and cheap food. with included public transit and opportunities for training in your field of choice. and you realize that for how much you’re spending on tuition/taxes, yeah, you do deserve these things, it would be insane not to have those. and then you graduate and go back to having to buy a car to drive 20 minutes to the grocery store.
It’s also one of the first places a lot of people raised in insular, conservative areas meet “the other”. People of other ethnicities and cultures, people of other religions, other gender presentations, sexualities, etc. You get to know them and start realizing how much of what you “knew” about them was myth or straight-up propaganda.
It’s a lot harder to demonize queer people when the person helping you pass calculus is a trans woman, or your lab partner talks about his boyfriend exactly the same way you talk about yours. It’s a lot harder to believe that immigrants are out to get you when your Hindu roommate cheerfully shares a care package of homemade goodies from home, or Malia down the hall covers your lunch because you forgot to bring your wallet to study group. You start rethinking some assumptions when the 6 foot spike-encrusted goth who sits behind you in lecture hall shows everyone photos of his baby niece dressed like a puppy for Halloween with all the pride of a new parent, and you remember when your flannel and camo-wearing uncle did the same thing at work last year with photos of your little sister.
Suddenly all those “others” are just people. They’re your friends, classmates, coworkers, and maybe even romantic interests. And that’s a lot harder to hate or fear.
