Today, college students everywhere are waking up to the

smell of fresh coffee and the sight of newsfeed stories on their social media pages. The

first thing young adults are doing is checking what their friends and the rest of the world

have been up to while they were asleep.

Politics is a hot-button topic in our society, especially on college campuses.

Students entering into college are finally old enough to vote in an election. Students

tend to take off with this new found freedom and plant their stake into the political party

of their choosing. Certain colleges will lean closer to one political party and this can be a

factor of environment, where students are coming from, their personal upbringing, and

their major.

Though all presidential elections create a divide, the 2016 race seems to have

created a deeper wedge than usual. This division can be seen here at the University of

New Haven, especially with the availability to voice one’s political opinion on social

media.

Mary Kate Kelly, a junior Forensic Science major has noticed a huge political

divide on campus, especially online.

“I think now people are literally too afraid to say who they're voting for without

being verbally attacked with this election and it's worse than ever”.

Students are tweeting, Facebooking, snap chatting, yik yaking, and blogging their

opinions and re-sharing pictures and videos from other people.

And this sharing of a political opinion article that shows support for the right side of the

political spectrum.

Social media has played a huge part in this presidential election. This election has been

especially controversial due to the candidates and the political leaning of this campus.

Some students say that the campus leans towards the left and others disagree. Political

Science Professor Joshua Sandman, believes one thing where Journalism Professor

Susan Campbell believes another thing.

Sandman has worked at the University for years and says that campus is,

“Almost evenly divided, but somewhat to the right.” Whereas Campbell who has only

been teaching here for one year says that campus, “Probably — as with most college

campuses — more to the left”.

It seems that student’s opinion tends to be more conservative yet the

administration is more liberal.

“I find it hard to tell if this campus leans hard right or hard left. I could not say for

sure. Though it is clear to me that the administration is afflicted with cultural Marxist

principles, which I clearly detest.” Declares Sophomore, Criminal Justice major

Benjamin Way.

As the election rolls closer, more and more news will break for and against

candidates and the political parties that they represent. People will continue to speak

their minds and stand up for what they believe in.

College is the first adult experience that students get and the fact that an election

is happening at the same time really shows students how the world works and how they

can develop who they are and what they believe in. Younger generations have been

hard to reach in previous elections so hopefully this controversial election will

encourage students to go and voice their opinion on the voting ballet this November 8 th .