Though the Tufts community is largely considered a population that tends to lean left of center, differing political viewpoints do exist on campus. In a cohesive community like Tufts, members of opposing political groups not only interact, but also often form close relationships with each other.
How are boyfriends and girlfriends, best friends and roommates able to prevent their conflicting political views from getting in the way of their relationships?
There are a variety of reactions and approaches to this dilemma. Conservative freshman Joe Brown jokingly threatens to use brute force to impose civility on his relationship with his liberal roommate, freshman Jake Gross: "I'm three times his size - in fact, we are polar opposite sizes," Brown said.
In reality however, the two roommates were compelled to deal with their political differences.
The earliest concern regarded Brown's decision to hang a gigantic American flag on the wall beside his bed. Spanning 10 feet across and five feet down, the flag, to Brown, is primarily a symbol of patriotism. He
acknowledges, though, that it is typically seen as representing conservative politics.
Gross' first reaction reflected the latter sentiment. "When I first saw it, I was like, wow, are you a hick or something?" Gross said.
As the two grew to become friends, they maintained their habit of referring to each other using derogatory nicknames.
"He calls me a 'hick' for voting for Bush," Brown said.
In casting his vote for the Republican candidate, Brown was not alone. In fact, he was one of many: numerous polls and studies from such institutions as Harvard's Institute of Politics and UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute suggest that overall, college students are moving in a conservative direction.
In the 2004 presidential election, a substantial number of college students - 41 percent -voted for Bush. (55 percent voted for Kerry.)
Like politics on the national scene, the conflict between Brown and Gross intensified during election season.
"We used to watch the debates together," Brown said. "Every time Bush said something, Jake would make fun of him, and every time Kerry said something, I would do the same thing."
However, Brown admits that such banter was never very productive.
"He has no intention of listening to my points of view, and I have no intention of listening to his," Brown said.
The two roommates now live together in relative harmony. Next year, however, Brown plans to room with fellow freshman Aaron Gerratt, a liberal who is proud of the "Bushisms" poster that currently graces his wall.
When asked how he feels about the possibility of this poster being in their shared room next semester, Brown replied, "What 'Bushisms' poster? The one that my flag is going to be on top of, or the one I'm going to be using for toilet paper?"
Gerratt laughed and replied that he really wasn't concerned about any potential conflict.
"All I'm going to do is sit there and listen to [Brown] talk trash," Gerratt said. "Honestly, I am wicked psyched to room with Joe - even if he is a dumb hick."
Romantic relationships, however, can be more complicated. Freshman Rachael Fowl, who describes herself as a liberal, has been dating a conservative for several months.
"The first time we talked about it was before the elections," Fowl said. "It's not a huge part of my life, or his, so it wasn't really that big a deal."
Despite Fowl's ambivalence, she noticed that her boyfriend was subject to heavy criticism from other people.
"I feel uncomfortable for him sometimes," Fowl said. "When everyone is saying, 'Oh, Bush is so dumb' or whatever, he is just like 'OK, I'm going leave now.'"
Such repeated incidents compelled Fowls' boyfriend to change his profile on thefacebook.com from "conservative" to "apathetic."
Their relationship, however, suffered no such changes. "Our relationship is stronger than our political views," Fowl said.
Other romantic relationships have not faired so well.
"My last girlfriend was very intolerant," Brown said. "We used to get into big arguments all the time. After awhile it was just kind of fun to piss her off - she would go on for half an hour."
