Video by Caroline Routh
Graphic by Olivia Goodson
LEAD: It’s election season and college students from across the state are discussing hot topic issues, such as abortion on campus. Caroline Routh has the story.
STANDUP: Election Day is coming up very soon and one of the biggest issues this year is abortion. Candidates are trying to reel in college students, so we spent some time at UNC, Duke and High Point to see how students engage in conversations about abortion on campus.
TRACK 1: UNC is a public university and features a variety of viewpoints.
ABIGAIL BUXTON SOT 1: “College campuses are a place for us to engage in learning, engage with the opposite opinion, and grow as individuals.”
TRACK 1: But with the constant noise from both sides of the issue comes disrespectful reactions as President of UNC’s Students for Life group Abbigail Buxton explains.
ABIGAIL BUXTON SOT 2: “UNC does tend to have students that are very aggressive when it comes to the issue of abortion. We have, obviously been cursed at, yelled at from across the pit. Also, been spit on and things like that.”
TRACK 1: Just 7 miles down the road, Duke University students lean left on the issue.
KATELYN SHEETS SOT 1: “I’d say most of the campus is pro-choice. The issue we struggle with is apathy.”
TRACK 1: As a private institution, Duke attracts many students from across the country.
KATELYN SHEETS SOT 2: “The issue is because there are so many out-of-state students at Duke, people aren’t aware of what’s going on in North Carolina and a lot of people are from states where abortion is protected and they haven’t been in a place where it’s under attack the way that it is in North Carolina.”
TRACK 1: High Point University, listed as Princeton’s Review’s 10th most conservative school in the country, is a private school that centers as valuing “god, family and country.”
THOMAS O’HARA SOT 1: “I mean I would definitely say this is a more conservative school so probably more pro-life I would assume.”
TRACK 1: And yet, even with the campus having an obvious lean on the issue, students are still hesitant to engage in conversations about the topic.
THOMAS O’HARA SOT 2: “I feel like the rhetoric around abortion is sort of like the right has its set of facts and the left set of facts and they have no cross-section I guess. So, I’m hesitant because I just don’t know what’s true or not.”
STANDUP: While UNC, a public school, finds both sides speaking loudly about the issue and going to the point of fighting the opposite side, apathy seems to reign at Duke and High Point, where their student body seems less likely to discuss their positions on the issue.
TRACK 1: College students are a key voting bloc and both sides of the political aisle are trying to make inroads on this highly sensitive topic as young people get ready to head to the ballot boxes. I’m Caroline Routh, reporting.
TAG: As November 5th creeps closer, we’ll be watching as issues like abortion sway college voters.
