By Tiffany Gee
tiffany@newsroom.byu.edu
The networks love it, it fills the front page of newspapers and it's the subject of every political cartoon, but the presidential election is getting stale to students and faculty on campus.
In the beginning was the hype, the never-ending election night and the days of suspense that followed. Teachers discussed it on their lunch break, opened class with the latest updates and found that students were genuinely interested.
Darren Hawkins, professor of international politics in the political science department, said he couldn't avoid talking about it in class. His introduction of the topic led to heated discussions about U.S. politics -- a far cry from planned international subjects delineated on the syllabus.
'I was completely addicted from the moment things started getting sticky on election night,' Hawkins said.
Because the discussion was eating up so much class time, Hawkins moved the dialogue to e-mail, which led to a network of debate through cyberspace.
As time ticked by and litigation after litigation was piled onto the judicial docket, the time put into it became too much for Hawkins and interest began to wane.
'I finally got tired of it. I had to work on it, because I was spending way too much time,' he said.
Others echo the sentiment that it's just getting old.
Chris Walker, 21, a junior from Las Vegas, Nev., majoring in philosophy, said his philosophy teacher has incorporated the Florida situation into his class, but they just want it to be over.
'At first we were talking about how we wanted it to be fair, but then we realized that at this point whichever way it goes won't be completely fair,' Walker said.
Walker said students at BYU have already picked their winner.
'Everyone wants Bush to win because we live in the Provo bubble -- it's who's ahead,' he said.
Even the election gurus and political action committees on campus seem indifferent.
Neither College Democrats nor College Republicans have done anything since Election Day.
'We're not really doing anything because there is nothing we can do,' said Brandon Minster, 22, a sophomore from Camarillo, Calif., majoring in geography and president of College Republicans at BYU.
The people he has talked to are impatient and anxious for the whole thing to be finalized, Minster said.
The College Democrats focused the majority of their efforts on getting students out to vote on election day, said Jake Rugh, 23, a senior from Orem majoring in economics and president of College Democrats.
Rugh said by election day they were sick of it and burned out.
Despite the waning of interest in the election, it seems BYU students have remained true to one thing: their conservative viewpoint.
Hawkins said he began the class political discussions by soliciting students' viewpoints, but got too emotionally involved when students seemed too biased.
'I became a bit dismayed at really narrow-minded students with a very bias analysis,' Hawkins said.
Students in his class said the liberal media tried to throw the election to Gore and concluded that only Democrats tried to pull dirty tricks.
'I'm concerned that this seems to have reinforced the bias of the students. It has reinforced the Republicanness,' Hawkins said.
Rugh agrees that students are one-sided and unwilling to look at both sides.
'I just want to ask one question. If the other side were in the same position as Gore, wouldn't they do the same thing?' Rugh said.
Hawkins said he understands that everyone has biases, but it is important to recognize them, something he did not see much of when his political discussions began.
'I believe there are two social goods with two different views, but some students see it as black and white,' he said.
Overall, Hawkins said this has been a good experience for him and his students. He received several e-mails thanking him for the time he had taken to talk about the election. A few said through the experience they have an increased interest in politics.
Even Hawkins, whose specialty lies in international politics, said he has gained an interest in U.S. politics.
'I think it's been a useful learning experience, although votes still don't matter that much here in Utah,' he said.
Rugh said if the student body were given the opportunity to vote again, he thinks the voter turnout would be higher because of what has transpired.