I went to a discussion last Tuesday titled Why This Election Matters featuring a panel of five professors. The introducer started with the caveat “I haven’t vetted the panelists, but I imagine it may be difficult to find two and a half republicans on the Carleton campus.”

Across campus, republicans are either in hiding or non-existent. Last January in the run-up to the primary, I worked for the Obama campaign on campus. I still remember the republican I met on campus, because during the whole month we were working on the campaign, I only found one.

One of the panelists on Tuesday quoted Frantz Fanon as saying, “Oh my body, make of me always a man who questions.” Where is this spirit of questioning on campus? A good discussion challenges us to consider viewpoints outside our own. Are we challenging ourselves?

The Carleton bubble allows those within to simplify and ignore the world outside.  One of the panelists is a political economist who says “The bailout being discussed will not work… There will be a recession, and it will be worldwide.” It’s a common refrain in Obama speeches that “We are at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” but there is no feeling such feeling of urgency on campus. I’ve already discussed the ambivalent campus response to the financial crisis.

Students are concerned about the election, but many are caught up in the “horse-race” mentality of the media. Obama is rarely if ever criticized. I like Obama, but he’s certainly not beyond reproach. He opposes gay marriage, he talks very militaristically about Afganistan and even Russia. Liberals have good reason to question him.

Many students take it upon themselves to vote, and many think seriously about the election. As a campus however, there isn’t much going on. I was one of 17 volunteers who went door-knocking in Northfield last weekend. Carl Dems isn’t making an aggressive campaign on campus because it doesn’t want to create backlash (the Minnesota office would like us to canvass every door on campus 3 times before November 4th).  The panel, Why This Election Matters was attended by around 50 students.

Not having dogmatic Republicans on campus means we don’t have to engage in the kind of mind-numbing debates the candidates partake in, but it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to discuss.