Being a conservative on the campus of Elon University is hard. Want to know why I say this?

I am one. While I would not say I’m overtly political, I usually lean to the right on most issues.

For a conservative that is also a practicing Christian, it’s even tougher.

Elon definitely puts the liberal in "liberal arts." Normally, socially liberal agendas, such as gay rights and increased emphasis on diversity, have been the recent hallmarks of Elon administration. There have been a multitude of Smith Jackson e-mails have been sent out in respect to both topics, including a couple in the last week regarding polling locations for early voting over Amendment One in Alamance County. An email sent April 25 said the “Alamance County Board of Elections is currently offering One Stop Early Voting for the May 8 primaries and Amendment One” (emphasis added).

This is not a place for me to talk about Amendment One. All I want to say is, as a “conservative,” I feel like I am trapped in a box. It has breathing holes, but I have almost no chance of breaking out to breathe.

I understand the reasoning behind allowing options for opinions. I applaud the Better Together club holding sessions in which practitioners of different religions come to talk about the facts behind their systems of belief. I appreciate that I am free to go to groups like Campus Outreach to talk freely about Jesus Christ and who and what He represents. I believe everyone should be able to express what they think without fear of ridicule or having other’s beliefs and views forced upon them.

But when events like voting for Amendment One are promoted in Smith Jackson emails and a general lambasting of conservatives comes from some of the professors I’ve had, I feel like I have no room for my opinion if I’m conservative. And I hate to bring up the H-word, but the university’s double standard on liberals and conservatives is quite evident.

For instance, when I attempted to have a genuine conversation about my feelings on a topic in my Global Experience class last year, and those feelings, which could have been classified as conservative, were contrary what was being taught and what was widely accepted in the class, I was shut down by some strange looks and even appalled gasps, like I was a freak who didn’t know what he was saying.

When I brought up my faith, it was even worse.

Previously, in my Religion in a Global Context class last spring semester, my professor openly mocked my beliefs and the God I love dearly and owe everything to. But this professor managed to look at all other religions with a straight face and open mind throughout the rest of the class. I chose to say nothing in response.

Why? Because it seems that, at Elon, if you hold to anything that is not open-minded or willing to accept other things as truth, you’re not doing things the “Elon way”: The “Elon way” that is shoved down our throats at every convocation we have.

But before I get too religious, I’ll get back to the point. As a conservative, who happens to think differently on things than administration does, I feel like an alien. My thoughts don’t seem to matter because I’m not “open-minded” enough.

To be honest, I’m not insulted though. I’ve just gotten used to it. It’s the “Elon way.”