Anyone who’s not a current college student or thereabouts in age may be unaware of the current cultural movement on university campuses. An extremely popular media and clothing company called “Old Row” made two posts to its Instagram account signifying this movement.
The first post ran two weeks ago, as Old Row – in conjunction with their University of Alabama franchise “Old Row Crimson Tide” — reposted a TikTok of a female University of Alabama (UA) student which read, “Pov you’re a democrat that goes to bama,” to which Old Row added the comment, “Will never understand people who go to school in a place and culture they hate and act like it should change to fit them.”
The other post capitalized on the previous post, showing a picture of Old Row’s new shirts reading, “GO BACK TO NEW JERSEY,” with a silhouette of the state crossed out on the front, while the question, “How do you feel about northerners attending southern colleges?” graced the post.
I want to preface this by saying that colleges in every state are unwise to welcome students from all corners of our nation. But state universities, in particular, have a duty to the residents of that state first and foremost.
This countercultural movement is rising because of a disposition among Southern schools catering to out-of-state students far more than its natives. It’s understandable to see why these institutions have chosen this course of action; out-of-state tuition is higher, students moving to a college town must rent apartments, and without preexisting friend groups in place, these students join Greek organizations to find a community. All of that makes sense and would be justified if the financial success of the university is a top priority.
But according to these universities, and to the legislatures that either founded them or incorporated them, they are primarily servants to the students – and again, in-state students in principle. That proposition becomes strange when you take a quick glance at UA’s website and they themselves state that of the 40,846 students enrolled in fall 2024, “57.7% come from elsewhere in the United States and 95 foreign countries.”
The University of Alabama’s policy of selling itself to out-of-state students not only harms its native students by slimming their chances of admission and enrollment, but the culture it creates on campus is even more damaging. Most of these out-of-state students admittedly come from the Northeast or California where universities are highly expensive and elite. Alabama tuition is comparatively cheap, while the football and parties are fun, they reason. So, you have an influx from the most progressive, secular and morally lax communities in the country dominating organizations like Student Government Association and intellectual societies, not to mention almost every classroom.
This inherently creates a situation where Alabamian students, largely Christian conservatives with humble backgrounds focused on building a future home and family, are made to feel strange or unwelcome. Like that first Old Row post illustrated, I personally have been ignored, dismissed and looked down upon when I say, “I’m from Tuscaloosa,” during first-day introductions, and have overheard innumerable slights towards the culture and government of this state for being redneck or too right-wing. I also suspect that being from the state and not paying twice as much to attend UA has something to do with being overlooked in certain applications to school organizations.
The university not only discriminates socially against us native students but institutionally. Students not living in campus dorms or nearby apartments must pay to park in commuter lots, with permits running at about $400 annually and the cost rising each year. More troubling is that these lots are each on the extreme east and west edges of campus. Nothing says “we love our in-state students” like the mile walk to class.
Self-serviced sellouts to out-of-state students are a serious problem here at UA, which may be why Auburn broke a record for in-state admissions this year, with 62% of enrollment being in-state. The attraction of students from opposing communities in such large numbers turns our universities into Ivy-League-esque progressive hotbeds, turns college towns into small blue cities, and soon will turn Southern states into swing states (look no further than Athens, Ga.).
This is something I’ve been calling out since I started attending UA, and my fellow native students are finally beginning to realize it as well. It’s time we call on our legislatures to get control of these institutions because, as state institutions, that’s basically who runs them in the end. Republicans love to call out liberal universities for DEI, violent protests, and the like, but they have direct control over the aim of their institutions, and they should wield that.
Carter Ashcraft is a 21-year-old from Tuscaloosa, Ala., who is majoring in political science at the University of Alabama. You can contact him at carterashcraft12@gmail.com.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
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