Since coming to college, I’ve been challenged countless times on my political views. I’ve gotten into some pretty heated debates with friends, acquaintances and outright strangers. I’ve been called some nasty words and gotten criticized publicly in the newspaper, but I guess it all comes with the territory. You see, I’m kind of a minority on campus. Or at least it seems that way. To some, I am a conservative. To others, a Republican. And to others still, I’m “ignorant,” “stupid,” or…well, you get the point. I prefer to consider myself as a free-thinking individual who doesn’t go along with the crowd. I’ve learned that “the crowd” in college is farther to the left of me.

Before coming to Athens, Ohio I always labeled myself as a Republican. I was brought up in a traditional, conservative household and small town. But my convictions were based on the preaching of my parents and the beliefs of the people around me instead of my own experience and understanding of politics.

Then I decide to become a journalism major. That’s when I realized that I needed—and actually wanted—to start keeping up with the news. I started reading different newspapers, websites and blogs, watched TV newscasts and listened to talk radio on my way to and from high school. Sometimes I headed to the Current Affairs section at the bookstore, browsed the titles and bought a few books on politics. I would talk and debate with friends and classmates about the latest headlines. I began to question and challenge what I was always taught to believe.

But despite my initial doubts, I slowly began to realize why my parents raised me the way they did. They instilled me with a sense of personal independence and pride for a country that promotes the ideals that have made our nation so great. I then realized why I really was what I had thought I was all along; a conservative.

I held true to my ideals even when I landed in the center of liberal academia at Ohio University. On my first day of class I sat stone-faced while my language professor criticized the Bush administration and the Iraq War. I endured watching a Michael Moore documentary for a political science class. I tolerated an instructor who blamed capitalism for the downfalls of society and the reason for the subjugation of women. There were countless times when I could have walked out in the middle of a lecture or made a disruption in class. But I understand that not everyone sees the world the same way I do.

As for my young career as a journalist, while I write a variety of news and features stories for this mainly liberal local newspaper, my columns always seem to produce large quantities of letters to the editor and personal hate mail to my inbox. Do I take it personally? Of course not. I may chuckle a little at the angry remarks and snide comments but I don’t let it get to me.

So to all you right-wingers, watch out. Just mentioning the fact that you’re a “Republican” or “conservative” seems to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths around here. In fact, people act like the words are obscenities— especially when I tell people I’m a member (vice president, actually) of the OU College Republicans. Suddenly their opinion of me has changed. But why should it matter? This is supposed to be a campus of diversity, it is not?

And it is that very idea that seems so hypocritical to me. Why is it that so many liberal professors want to oppress concepts such as capitalism, patriotism, individualism and even religion? I thought a “liberal education” meant studying a variety of different subjects, views, and ideas, not just one biased version of the truth. On a college campus, a place where learning and diversity are encouraged and promoted, this should be the time in our lives when we are learning to accept the ideas and lifestyles of others, not judging each other on our differences.

The OU College Republicans is one of the most active groups on campus, although we’re not always recognized by the college or local media. The truth is, we’re not really all that different from anyone else. We just want our voices to be heard too.

So here’s what I have to say to all you young Republicans, conservatives and libertarians. Your political views may, unfortunately, get in the way of your personal and academic life. You may lose a friend or two. You may be singled out in class. These are just minor setbacks in your college career. But in the end it will be worth it. To know that you have so much faith in your beliefs that nothing or no one can change them is a wonderful feeling.

You could say that I’m a conservative because I believe in tradition. That is, I believe in freedom and choice. I believe in morality and justice. I believe in personal responsibility and accountability. If you want to criticize me for that, then go ahead. I’ll be checking my inbox.

Emily Mullin is the Campus Report Online correspondent at Ohio University of Athens.