MEGHAN MANLEY

Sophomore

mamanley@goshen.edu

I am a conservative. I come from a family of conservatives, and that is something we take pride in. My dad is a successful business owner, my mom is a cosmetologist and all three of my older sisters have college degrees. I would say that we are educated, even though the media would say otherwise. I do not consider myself homophobic, racist or xenophobic.

On election night, I went to bed happy with the results of the election because I honestly believe that Donald Trump is going to make a good president and is going to be beneficial for our great nation. I never would have imagined what I would wake up to that next morning.

I was expecting some backlash in the media and in the atmosphere on campus, but not to the extent that I experienced. The comments made around campus and in chapel last Tuesday about “all Trump voters” were very negative and stereotypical. “A vote for Trump was a vote for hate,” was one of my favorites.

I am a strong believer in freedom of speech, which technically is what all of these comments were. But to have a chapel that was so one-sided and only fueled the fire that so many people already felt toward the Republican Party was unnecessary, in my opinion. There was no representation of the Republican Party to defend or state our views.

Goshen College strives to be loving and accepting of all people. I believe that this goal is not enacted when it comes to conservatives like myself. I don’t usually voice my opinion about politics, but when I do on this campus, I am either shot down without anyone trying to understand where I am coming from or everyone in the class joins forces against me. I am not writing this article to victimize myself or other conservatives. I just believe that if Goshen College is going to keep preaching love and acceptance for all then it needs to start being acted out.