OPINION: The 3 social political cohorts of Athens
Mark Harris is a first-year student at Ohio University and an opinion writer at The New Political.
Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.
As I see it, the Athens area has three distinct socio-political cohorts:
University-affiliated individuals: students, faculty and employees who tend to align with the Democratic Party.
Rural county residents who tend to be conservative and align with the Republican party.
"Townies," or more accurately, the individuals that live and work in Athens that do not have an association with the university beyond its impact on the town.
This third cohort generally has socially progressive views in that they are accepting of LGBTQ+ rights, tend to care about the environment and tend to be accepting of other cultures. However, they view the university in a different light. Instead of seeing the university as a bastion of progressive values, they see it as a bureaucratic behemoth that uses the town for its own ends. I say all this because an Athens "townie" is not your typical citizen and does not fall easily into the predetermined political boxes of conservative or liberal. This dynamic is more representative of the country, making Athens' socio-political situation a microcosm for the rest of America.
It is assumed that public universities are generally places of progressive thought and ideology. Except for the university's conservative-minded clubs, that is true of Ohio University. However, there is a lack of understanding when it comes to the local class dynamics. Faculty are relatively well paid, though notably less well paid than administrators. Both groups sit on the top end of the economic spectrum in the Athens area alongside the more successful business owners. Students, though many poor themselves, have been at least afforded the luxury of getting a higher education.
University staff have relatively stable jobs with decent pay for the area. This insulates students and faculty from most of the struggles of the lower classes. Staff are working class; however, the retention of that status is determined on the economic success of the university so they are the last to wish it to change. This spills into the public sector for the university, and well-to-do citizens set the tone in city policy and decisions. At the best of times, this works to keep the city's social policy up to date and at its worst, prevents or greatly weakens the city's ability to push back against the university's less savory actions.
Students are also generally oblivious to local class dynamics. For the few that do care to be informed, their post-graduation lives place them elsewhere in the world. This is paralleled in the national political climate with the Democratic party claiming to care about left behind and underserved communities, while simultaneously focusing on incurring favor from the wealthy globalist elite. It's not enough to be interested in the class struggles of those who are in classes lower than you, you must understand that they need the same abilities to be upwardly mobile in society.
People assume that those living in rural areas are backward and unintelligent. It is also assumed that they are socially stagnant, regressive and conservative. Simply put, they wish to conserve their way of life and fear it will be changed without their consent. However, that is not to say they aren't accepting of others. Rural people want to be left to themselves and allowed to live their lives as they see fit.
In Athens, that idea boils down to a few key issues. The first is tax increases. If you own property, you pay taxes on it; however, not everyone can afford the taxes. Most rural landowners in Athens who own over an acre or two are farmers, and most of those farms are family farms passed down from generations ago. Many such family farms make little more than enough to afford a stable lower-middle-class lifestyle, so their way of life is under threat when taxes go up.
The second key issue has to do with social differences. The rural population tends to be more religious, generally Protestant Christianity. Certain sects hold varying positions on socially-progressive issues; however, we should pay them just as much respect as other cultures and religions who hold their own varying positions on progressive social issues.
The third key issue is how conservatives feel the university affects their children's beliefs. Conservative, rural and religious parents see the city of Athens and the university as the place young people go to become morally corrupted. This leads them to discourage their children from participating in university activities and instill in their children with the mindset that they are separate and different from the other students. This leads the next generation to feel the same fear and need to conserve even the more toxic aspects of their way of life. If a child decides to change their beliefs, it is perceived as the city having a negative effect on the rural, conservative youth. This also mirrors the greater sociopolitical climate across the country, with rural conservatives becoming warier of academic institutions and their effects on rural youth.
The Athens community has many residents that do not have a direct connection to Ohio U. Some are small business owners, but the vast majority of these people are service industry workers. The Athens service industry is completely dependent on the student population.
As someone who works in the service industry, I know how much day-to-day life changes with the coming and going of the student population: Working hours change, paychecks shrink due to being forced to work less hours and late-night businesses have earlier hours.
Serving students is even an unpleasant experience. Students tend to tip less, be more rude or dismissive of staff and often act as if they care about Athens without knowing what it is like to live in Athens beyond the time they spend here as students. Not to mention how much students drive up the price of rent due to a few of them being willing to pay much higher rents by virtue of their parents.
Though better accustomed to the general climate of the city outside of the school schedule, the university faculty still looks down on service industry workers as being under-educated. So, in many ways, Athens locals often find themselves looked down upon, forced to find cheaper housing outside the city, at the whims of the student population both economically and in their day-to-day work lives and overall alienated from their town. This state of affairs also mirrors the nation's sociopolitical climate, as more and more Americans feel alienated by their political system. Due to the two major parties' competition for power, they have neglected and underserved a large chunk of the American citizenry.
It is not fair to say that everyone fits the generalized descriptions discussed previously, as there are many well-off Athens city residents not associated with the university, plenty of faculty with economic struggles and students that do seek to understand the state of the Athens community beyond their time here as students. However, as far as describing the general dynamics of the social and political state of the Athens area, I have strived to show what trends I have noticed. I am fortunate to have been a part of all three of the cohorts throughout my short twenty-five years on this Earth, first as a religious youth who lived and attended school outside of the city. Second, as a service industry worker in the city since I graduated high school and now as a university student. Through my own lived experience, I can attest to the trends in the community and, as I've become more politically minded, saw those same trends mirrored on the national stage.
In summation, we are ever-changing; I know we can work together to make everyone feel like equal members of the Athens community and feel represented nationally. I am reminded of the opening lines of my favorite book, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.’"