Apathy reigns on campus

By Jessica Webster
City Editor

Maybe Super Tuesday wasn’t so "super" for sustaining hot political contest and strife in the 2000 presidential race, and maybe college students simply don’t care.

Whatever the case, political apathy among Purdue students is not uncommon right now.

"I just don’t give a damn," said one senior in the School of Liberal Arts. "It’s just not interesting to follow."

Those sentiments might make political zealots cringe but they’re seemingly pervasive in the college age group.

Following more than three dozen phone calls to Purdue students from the Exponent, the primary student political reactions were indifferent or unknowing.

Many students said they don’t follow the presidential race and thus don’t have any opinions about it. Numerous students could not name the presidential contenders, nor the contenders’ party identifications.

Betsy Michel, a junior in the School of Pharmacy who identifies as a Republican, said she tries to watch the news every day to catch information about the presidential campaigns and players. Michel is leaning toward George W. Bush or John McCain, if McCain continues, but Michel does have friends who don’t care and won’t vote.

"They think it doesn’t have anything to do with their lives," said Michel. "Who’s president is not going to affect anything that they do on a daily basis, so they don’t think it has anything to do with them."

The fact that most contenders (with the exception of Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush) have been weeded out of the race relatively early this year may contribute to further apathy.

But some students and staffers are staying intrigued.

Jeffrey Hickman, a retired Purdue staffer, said the race has been interesting and the mudslinging has been minimal. "I feel that John McCain would be the best president, the best commander in chief, but I think that Gore is actually going to win if he goes up against Bush.

"McCain has grit; he doesn’t seem to waffle according to what the latest poll is, and he stands up for what he believes in even if it’s not the popular opinion."

Clayton Cooke, a senior in the Schools of Engineering, said he tries to stay politically active and said he thinks it’s been "a pretty good campaign." He said he doesn’t agree with McCain’s "liberal economics," so he’s leaning toward Bush.

Kerrie Dillon, a senior in the School of Liberal Arts, said she’s leaning toward Bush also. "I think that his values and beliefs are more in line with mine than the other candidates'," she said. "I think people have known that the final race was going to be Bush and Gore for awhile now."

Apathy reigns on campus

Campaign 2000

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