Survey Finds Apathy on College Campuses

Re “College Freshmen Get High Marks--in Apathy,” Jan. 12:

My experience as a freshman at UC Berkeley leads me to believe that this is a skewed perception. On Berkeley’s campus, there are hundreds of thriving political organizations. Every day, students actively gather signatures for petitions and engage in debate with strangers who disagree with their views on the environment, political events and civil rights. Academic interest, too, is very high, and not merely because of a pursuit of “academic credentials” or earning potential. Intellectual electricity still pulses through the college campus, inspired by a genuine love of learning.

Your article claims that “apathy continues to dominate politics on campus,” and says “most freshmen think of themselves as ‘middle of the road,’ rather than conservative or liberal.” However, moderate viewpoints do not mean an absence of viewpoints.

I suspect that the survey returned such dismal results because it questioned freshmen in their first week of school, before they have truly become a part of college society. Students who have been immersed in the diverse, activist spirit of a college community would have a different outlook than those surveyed.

JENNIFER GREENGOLD

Laguna Hills

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While as a student activist I do not disagree with the statistics in your article, I think that the reasons behind the apathy are much more complicated than “computers” or our “wired society.” Part of the problem, I suspect, is that our generation has been bombarded with consumer culture--we have been taught that in order to be successful we must get better jobs so that we can earn more money so that we can buy more things. It’s no wonder that students are more interested in going to graduate school than in rocking the boat.

Also, the downward trend in activism has coincided with governmental laws such as the “gag rules” a number of states have enacted, prohibiting student groups from lobbying at the state level, as well as an increase in the bureaucracy of school administrations, making changes more difficult to bring about on campus. The UC system and other state systems have been trying for years to kill the outside political groups present on their campuses by attempting to cut their funding. With the situation as it is, students soon get impatient with the system, and only the most resilient will continue in their attempts to change it.

ADAM LEVINE

Los Angeles