As institutions that are often stereotyped as hotbeds for leftist politics and liberal lifestyles, art schools are seldom associated with conservative ideologies. But one student initiative at the Rhode Island School of Design seeks to change the way students engage politically on campus.
The RISD Conservatives, a group still in early planning stages, aims to provide a space for conservative students amid what it sees as a sea of liberal thinking among peers and professors.
One of the group's founders, RISD senior Alex Fass, said both he and co-founder Zach Brown, a RISD sophomore, were contacted by the Arlington, Va.-based Leadership Institute, an organization that tries to "identify, recruit, train and place conservatives in politics, government and the media," according to its Web site. He said that the contact was initiated based on the political views that he and Brown had listed on their Facebook profiles.
Brown said the RISD Conservatives aren't taking any money from the Leadership Institute, but they will probably do so in the future.
As far as the group's agenda, both founders said that the specific activities of the group are uncertain. They're still searching for an identity - whether to be an advocate for conservative political candidates, a social group for like-minded students or something in between.
The founders say that the group, intentionally titled RISD Conservatives as opposed to RISD Republicans, aims to be as inclusive as possible within conservatism. Brown said that the students who have expressed interest have different ideological viewpoints and specific interests, from abortion to the role of central government.
Brown said that he envisions the RISD Conservatives as a sort of "support group for the few conservative kids at RISD."
He sees the group as a statement to the rest of the student body: "Here we are. We're conservative, and we're not crazy."
"As soon as I got to RISD, I didn't really have that many like-minded friends," Fass said. "You can't let it out ... it builds up tension."
The fledging organization, not yet a formally recognized group on campus, still has a few kinks to work out, like securing an adviser and solidifying membership. According to Fass, a professor has recently informally agreed to advise the group, though Fass declined to release his name. Though not conservative himself, Fass said this professor is "the kind of guy who wants all views to be heard."
Originally, the group wanted to find a conservative adviser but couldn't find any on RISD's faculty. Once they broadened their search to include professors who may not be conservative but value differing viewpoints, they were more successful.
"There's literally no conservative-minded professors," said Brown, who self-identifies as a conservative libertarian. "There's all of these organizations ... for diversity ... but there's no diversity of thought."
Fass sees an association between the RISD student body and a pervasive liberal viewpoint. "They're young. They're artists. It comes with the territory," he said.
Brown said he didn't buy the idea that "somehow being leftist is an artist thing." Calling himself a "kind of radical," he said that the majority of the student body will "follow whatever Al Gore and Michael Moore tell them to believe."
A more technical problem for the group, said Fass, was finding time amid a hefty course load. Campus groups, Fass said, "don't all have staying power," mainly due to students' intense schedules. But, he said, "that's just RISD for you."
