Prospector Poll Suggests Intolerance at CKM

Only 45 percent of McClatchy students feel that their classmates are tolerant of political opinions they disagree with, according to a Prospector survey of 100 ninth through twelfth graders conducted in February.

Additionally, 50 percent of students said they had been ridiculed for a political opinion they shared, or had refrained from sharing one out of fear they would be. Clearly, many students feel certain perspectives are not tolerated at the school.

On McClatchy’s deep blue campus, conservative perspectives in particular are taboo. “McClatchy is really far to the left, and those people who aren’t, they’re outcast,” said junior Eli Veazy.

Freshman Manny Fabrizio has experienced this treatment firsthand. “Whenever I try sharing the Republican side,” he said, “they just tell me to be quiet, and that I’m wrong.”

The stigmatization of conservatives is no secret – 77 percent of interviewees who offered an explanation for the intolerance they saw at McClatchy mentioned the school’s strong progressivism. According to senior Quinn Alfaro, those who deviate from liberal orthodoxy are “labeled conservatives” like it’s a bad word, and become toxic.

        A third question, intended to gauge how many students try to suppress opinions they disagree with, asked students whether they had called someone out for sharing a political opinion they found offensive. Forty-two percent of students said they had.

	Number responding “yes”	Number responding “no”
Are students at McClatchy tolerant of political opinions they disagree with? (They are respectful of them and do not try to silence them)	Total: 45 HISP: 11	Total: 55 HISP: 29
Have you ever been ridiculed for a political opinion you shared, or refrained from sharing one out of fear you would be?	Total: 50 HISP: 22	Total: 50 HISP: 18
Have you ever called someone out for saying something political you found offensive?	Total: 42 HISP: 22	Total: 58 HISP: 18

Still, the survey may under-represent the true extent to which dissent is suppressed at McClatchy, for two reasons. The first is that students were not asked if they had used methods of shaming other than verbal attacks. “It’s more of a passive thing,” said junior Cam Eisenhower of how students, himself included, respond to opinions they don’t like. “People sigh and shake their heads.”

In addition, the number of students who said they had called someone out for saying something they found offensive might have been higher if there weren’t so few openly-stated dissenting opinions to ridicule. As junior Izzie Pfeffer said, “I don’t have to call anyone out; we all have pretty much the same views.”

A significant amount of the hostility towards the right can be attributed to the ascendancy of Donald Trump, who many students referenced when explaining why they believe McClatchy students are intolerant. “When I go with Trump, I get called out for it, and I’m the bad guy,” said sophomore Ishaan Kelley, who supports President Trump on most issues.

Sophomore Cecilia Smith has noticed the same treatment, though she is not a Trump supporter herself. “People who believe in him are called trashy and stupid,” she said.

        The aftermath of Mr. Trump’s general election victory was especially bad. “The day after he was elected,” recalled junior Madisen Pearce, “these girls were running around school saying ‘If you voted for Donald Trump, we’re gonna beat you up.’”

        Senior Allie Brock remembers November 9th as a conservative witch hunt of sorts. “The morning after Trump won,” she said, “I wasn’t acting that sad. One friend told me ‘You’re not that sad, are you a Trump supporter?’”

        Junior Ethan Lee, conscious of the hatred Trump supporters receive at McClatchy, performed an experiment to raise awareness of it. On the night of the election, Lee, who leans conservative but doesn’t support the president, pretended to be a Trump supporter on social media – he posted celebratory pictures of himself next to Mr. Trump’s delegate total on Snapchat, complete with “Make America Great Again” captions. At school the next day, people looked at him sideways. “I don’t think anyone was willing to talk to me about it,” he said. “People said stuff behind my back, and blocked me on social media.”

        In retrospect, Lee said the experiment made him yearn for open dialogue between left and right, an impossibility in an environment without tolerance. “I wish more people were willing to have a conversation, not an argument, about why I was a ‘supporter,’ rather than ignoring me simply because I was associated with Trump,” he said in a text message. “I understand that many may not have the same conservative worldview as I or Trump supporters … but I think it’s important to listen to ideas that you don’t agree with, because that’s when we begin to think and realize that the other side isn’t as terrible as you thought it was; conservative or liberal.”

        Though survey data and anecdotes suggest widespread prejudice against conservative viewpoints, it’s more pronounced in certain communities within the school. 40 of the 100 survey-takers were in the rigorous Humanities and International Studies Program, meaning they have their own “HISP” honors-level english and history classes. Students in this group were much more likely to give answers indicating the presence of intolerance than students outside the program were. 72.5 percent said they didn’t believe McClatchy students were tolerant of political opinions they disagree with, 55 percent said they had been ridiculed for sharing a political opinion or had refrained from sharing one out of fear they would be, and 55 percent said they had called someone out for saying something political they found offensive.

“In my HISP history class,” said freshman Molly Robinson, “there’s a guy who’s conservative and no one puts up with it. People just tell him to shut up.”

        When asked why the program seems to learn farther left than the rest of the school, HISP coordinator Ellen Wong said “it’s a combination of things.” She emphasized, however, that “it’s really about demographics.” HISP students are less diverse than the rest of the student body, and tend to come from a few affluent neighborhoods, namely Curtis Park and Land Park, that are very liberal.

        Lori Jublanski, who teaches US Government at McClatchy, said that the results of the survey, while troubling, don’t necessarily imply that students’ first amendment rights are being violated. She believes that ridicule, rather than inhibiting free speech, is an essential part of it.

        However, she added that when the threat of personal attack makes debate itself impossible, a line is crossed. “If people feel they could support what they’re saying and still don’t feel comfortable talking about it, then that’s something of concern,” she said.