Of all the ways to describe Southern Methodist University, “outwardly political” isn’t one of them. Unlike other universities, protest culture is absent from the university lawns here, and political conversations often stay siloed within friend groups and campus political organizations.
In the past five years, only three protests have taken place on campus. In 2020, SMU Black Student Athlete Committee and BLM@SMU organized protests and marches around campus in response to the death of George Floyd. Through these demonstrations, student leaders sought campus-wide acknowledgement of the Black student experience at SMU. Three years later, SMU’s Palestinian Solidarity Committee led a walkout for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war. The Daily Campus reported on their demands which included a permanent ceasefire. Additionally, PSC members “call[ed] upon our university [SMU] officials to publicly condemn this brutal massacre.”
These protests, however, weren’t spontaneous bursts of activism. Per university guidelines, organizers of a protest or demonstration must submit an event request form five days prior to the event date if it's held indoors and 10 days prior if it's held outdoors.
Though there’s a lack of spontaneity in SMU’s on-campus political activism, that doesn’t exactly translate to apathy in this election. In hearing from students voting in this election, the campus still interacts with the political sphere though it may look different from other schools in the area.
A Look at Demographics
More than half of SMU’s undergraduates are from states other than Texas, according to SMU’s fall 2023 campus profile. This fall, a university tally showed that Texas, California, and Florida bring in the largest numbers of undergraduate students. This makes the voting education process more difficult for out-of-state students as well as those from other Texas counties. Junior Sam Roddick, president of the College Democrats, hails from upstate New York. He found himself in a deep dive to help his fellow non-Texans obtain their absentee ballots in order to vote.
“For the midterms a few years ago, I was helping a bunch of friends figure out how they can vote, what they can do,” Rodick said. “Since it differs by state, by county, I was having to read all these PDFs on obscure county election websites to find out what exactly they need to submit, and what the deadlines are.”
Rodick also empathizes with students from areas of Texas outside of Dallas. He’s seen, at least among his friends, that transportation to polling sites proves to be difficult, especially for students without their own cars. Luckily, SMU’s Hughes Trigg Student Center serves as a polling location, and Dallas county allows people to vote in Dallas even if they don’t live within the precinct.
Additionally, SMU’s McGuire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility informs students, both in and out-of-state, on voter registration and casting their ballot. They, too, acknowledge the large out-of-state demographic at SMU, and provide information to aid those students in the registration and voting process.
“Their [The McGuire Center’s] efforts initially were focused toward voter registration because there’s more of a timeframe within September to October to register people to vote,” said Byoung Lee, a sophomore and director of civic engagement on SMU’s Student Senate. “Now that we’re more in the actual early voting season… we’re focusing more on getting people out to vote.”
Conversations Happen, Just on a Smaller Scale
Lee notes the importance of political organizations and university departments that host events to generate political conversation. He points to watch parties and speakers hosted by political organizations that represent both sides of the political binary.Students like Ashley Jones, a junior political science and public policy major, become exposed to political discussions through her areas of study. She says political interest and engagement tends to depend on where students get involved on campus.
“I’m very exposed to seminars and lectures that are going on and being hosted by very important people that come out to SMU to speak and give their opinions on the elections,” Jones said. “I’m able to sit in a very political sphere.”
But from Rodick’s perspective, the university doesn’t attract many political people, which explains the lack of heavily attended campus-wide political events.
“I have spoken to people at other schools, even schools of a similar size [to SMU], that have a more robust student political culture and they have political events all the time. Their College Democrats or College Republicans will have a letter writing event and will get 100 people to show up,” Rodick said. “At SMU, that really wouldn’t happen.”
A Once-In-a-Lifetime Election
Widespread political conversation on the SMU campus may never rise to levels seen at many other universities, but students here still feel a sense of civic responsibility. Ashley Jones, who will cast her ballot in a federal election for the first time, calls voting in this election an honor. “I think it’s super iconic that I’m voting during such a historic election because we have our first female African American presidential candidate [who] could potentially be elected to office, and we also have another candidate that’s already been in office and is getting up there in age,” Jones said. “I definitely might be biased but I think this is probably one of the most important elections we will see in our lifetimes.”
Jones, who also serves as the president for SMU’s Association of Black Students, notes that Kamala Harris’ candidacy represents something special for her and her friend group. At a predominately white institution like SMU, Harris’ campaign stands out to SMU’s Black students.
“I think it’s very par for the course because a lot of us here do a lot, and a lot of us are under the impression that Black people, specifically Black women, have to have a lot under your belt to consider you credible,” Jones said. “But a lot of us are very excited to see her be elected to this position, but we understand that she has to do a lot to get to that spot and a lot is expected of her. We are very familiar with those feelings.”
Students like Jones anticipate voting in this election, but there will always be apathy among voters who may believe that their vote doesn’t count. Rodick understands why people take a pause from civic engagement, but he says that young people with issues they’re passionate about should highly consider casting their ballot.
“I caution other younger people, you can’t complain if you don’t vote,” Rodick said. “And while I can be sympathetic to people who try to step away, I also think that if you step away, you also step away from the right to complain about it.”
