Pardon the Interruption: Disbelief

I had a little moment today that made me remember just how lopsided the perspective can sometimes be in a college environment. While a friend and I were checking out a college hosted free game of laser tag, we saw - in the other ballroom at our student center - a group of people in all-covering flowing black robes walking around and we were curious what they were up to. We checked out the activity schedule on the door and determined that the robed group was there for a "lecture"...I'm guessing it was a religious affiliation, but there was no way to be sure because the campus (claiming this rule is for the safety of the groups) prohibits religious organizations from advertising on campus directly. This little conversation ensued (names covered to protect the innocent).

ME: You know, I don't think it's quite right for the school to keep faith based groups from advertising overtly outside of the activity fair (the one place where they can have a booth and hand out literature).
HER: Well I guess there've been demonstrations in the past and the college didn't want to make these groups a target of hate crimes.
ME: Are they any safer being marginalized like this, though? I'm not convinced that explanation makes much sense.
HER: Well if you don't like that, then how about the fact that this is a public university and can't be seen to be backing a religion?
ME: Separation of church and state does not mean state run organizations need to remove all mention of religious faith from their confines. It means religious leaders can't be government leaders like it was in the time of the Holy Roman Empire or in England where the King was also the head of the Anglican church. It means religious rules should not govern the people.
HER: I suppose...Stony Brook is hardly unique in this, though.

At this point, she also noticed that the next day, Stony Brook's college republicans were hosting a regional gathering for all of the NYC area groups (it was on the schedule right below tonight's "lecture").

HER: The college republicans need this whole ballroom? That seems a bit excessive...
ME: You might be surprised. It's a regional meeting. I think there are probably at least a few hundred college students on the island who aren't democrats, y'know.
HER: Well how many are there here? Like five?
ME: Maybe in our department (laughing while thinking, "yes, dear, it turns out not everyone is liberal, even in college").

She's no slouch academically, mind you...a very intelligent, perceptive and genuine person. She just never hears the other side. Ever. Doesn't realize there's less of a consensus than she has been told. And I'm a great example of why. It's better to make friends than enemies and, as a relative conservative (libertarian, but to your average college student, the difference between libertarian and republican is like the difference between Clinton and Obama), I avoid discussing my political views other than in abstract terms and in watered down generalities when pressed. They know I call myself libertarian, but until I put a face on it (by explaining the full range of my beliefs), they don't know what that actually means for me. People like me just don't appear on the radar screen.

And we wonder why people aren't learning how to rationally debate the issues in college anymore. If you don't surround yourself with people that disagree with you and learn to face them with reason, your world view will become limited...you won't be able to understand why others disagree. When you're in disbelief that there are even a few dozen republicans in your midst (in a school of 15 thousand), you're in serious trouble once you get out into the real world.