LOOKING around Grounds it is clear that the University is alive with conservative traditions. Every semester eager students flock to the University in droves. They take tours, get acquainted with Grounds, show off their dream school to their parents, and view a picture of what they can receive from a four-year education at the University. When they come, what are they after?
Similarly, when alumni return to Grounds for games or when they tell peers with a tinge of pride that they attended the University, what keeps them attached? These two groups are in many ways attracted by the traditions of the University. The traditions are world renowned, offering something to every student who partakes and they lend a strong sense of conservatism to the University.
I am not suggesting that because University students and alumni love the traditions of the University they are somehow all secret Republicans. The conservatism inherent in tradition is a subtle phenomenon and is not so much a political statement as it is a disposition and an activity. One political theorist, Michael Oakeshott, said, "To be conservative.....is to prefer the familiar to the unknown
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