“Who wants stickers for No on Prop. 8?” yelled out Jon, a young Vietnamese student at UC Irvine before the start of a Orange County history course in which I was to lecture. His enthusiasm was heartening–up until then, Anteaters where the epitome of the ever-elusive youth vote.
As I walked to the Social Ecology II building, I made a note to notice everyone who displayed the “I Voted” sticker that proved their commitment to American democracy. Out of hundreds of students, I noticed no more than a dozen. Perhaps they voted absentee; perhaps they were voting later. But the fact Jon didn't distribute all of his No on Prop. 8 stickers, and that few of his fellow students sported the “I Voted” stickers just seemed further proof that, save for the eternal war between conservative students and Muslims, UC Irvine is about as political as pudding.
