by Emily McLean

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM

Burlington, Vermont sits in the far north of New England, a liberal oasis in a sea of rural Vermont paleo-conservatism. Nestled in the Champlain Valley, a certain type of person? is called to this little city of roughly 42,000 people. The folks? who answer this calling generally congregate at the six collegiate-level schools in the city, one of these schools being the University of Vermont. Founded in 1791, UVM offers a wide range of academics—including 100 bachelor’s programs, 50 master’s programs, 24 doctoral programs, and an M.D. program— and draws a variety of people from around the world. For years, UVM has been a haven for the people it collects. The University’s longstanding history of fairness and equality lead it to be the first American college or university to declare that the “rules, regulations, and by-laws shall not tend to give preference to any religious sect or denomination whatsoever,” and as an early advocate of women’s and African-American rights, in 1871, it was the one of the first universities to defy custom and admit two women. Perhaps it’s this tolerance that attracts today’s students, or maybe it’s the blatant weed culture, or outstanding academics. Whatever it is, despite the exorbitant tuition and crappy food, UVM is a convergent spot for Millennials like never before and one has to wonder, will this generation of students live up to those generations who came before them? Will the Millennials bolster UVM’s history of demanding change and activism, or will they turn UVM into one of the hundreds of universities across the country harboring the stereotypical privileged Millennial? One person who seems to represent the UVM culture is presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. The four-time mayor of Burlington and current U.S. Senator enthralls Millennials across the country and UVM’s students seem no different. Bernie Sanders appeals to UVM’s Millennials because in their world of massive student debt, job insecurity, media corruption, and feelings of hopelessness, Sanders identifies with these issues and is a beacon of light, seemingly holding real solutions in the palm of his hand.

Millennials: ‘90s music, Ferby, Facebook, iPhones, Macbooks, Starbucks; 9/11, War on Terror, Climate Change, Hurricane Katrina, 7.5 billion people, Great Recession, sky-high tuition, massive student debt, constant criticism. The Millennial Generation, those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s and generally the children of Baby Boomers, is a generation often portrayed by older generations as “spoiled” and “entitled. What those generations must keep in mind is “We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences—be they positive or negative—make us the person we are”. Millennials have grown up in a time of massive technological advancement (i.e. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Telsa) but also during times of major hardship, times when not a single day goes by that some sort of national or world crises isn’t seen on the news. Being a Millennial today means getting good grades in high school in order to get into a good college with the hopes of receiving some sort of scholarship so that the debt that hits after college graduation doesn’t completely swamp you when you can’t get a job right away because you weren’t a computer science or engineering major in college. Being a Millennial today means near constant social media connections, sure, but also harsh criticism when you don’t have a complete life plan by the time you’re twenty-two. Being a Millennial today means not being satisfied with the world around you, but not knowing what to do about it because the world is so messed up, messed up by the previous generations who look down on you for being more interested in Instagram selfies than in the problems they created. Being a Millennial today is hard because Millennials are spoiled and entitled (having been raised by Baby Boomers, keep in mind) and they want more than what society currently offers. Some Millennials are willing to work hard to change society, and that desire may be what attracts some students to UVM.

When asking students what drew them to UVM, most will give you one of three reasons: the mountain/outdoor culture, the academics, or the city of Burlington. Sometimes, it’s a combination of all three. Regardless, there is an undeniable energy surrounding UVM that calls to a certain type of person. One student, junior Anjana Patel, calls it a sense of “progressiveness” that permeates not only UVM’s campus, but Burlington in general. Senior Katherine Brainard agrees that UVM is its own entity that encourages students to think for themselves, something that is new for many students who come from more conventional parts of the country. Burlington and UVM are known for their history of straying from larger state- and nation-wide systems, but lifelong Vermonter and UVM senior Carolyn Richards explains that it’s the outsiders who originally cultivated the “hippy” culture that has turned into such a strong UVM stereotype. She also says it’s the outsiders who continue to bolster this vision when they come to UVM to learn. One longtime Vermonter who was perhaps a part of one of the first waves of outsider influence is presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders has become something of a local hero in Burlington. Between his four successful terms as Burlington’s mayor, sixteen years as a congressman and almost ten years as a senator, Sanders has built a solid political foundation that now translates to his presidential campaign. Once an unknown white guy from Vermont, Sanders has transformed himself into a Brooklyn-accented Voice for the People who is quickly and confidently gaining on Hillary Clinton’s once-assumed Democratic nomination for the 2016 U.S. Presidency. Sander’s constant and forceful demand for economic and social justice is not necessarily original, but his integrity and conviction are so palpable the people can’t help but put their faith in him. Millennials across the country are “feeling the Bern” and UVM’s students are no different. Katherine Brainard believes it’s his constant fight for change and justice that has kept Sanders so relevant despite the fact that he’s been around much longer than the Millennials. It doesn’t matter that he’s seventy-four years old, Sanders has kept up with the issues and understands the frustration felt by so many young people. Sanders is particularly interested in making college education more accessible to Americans by lowering tuition costs and even making some colleges free. The desire to take on something so huge and do what is right for the American people is refreshing to Anjana Patel who’s happy to see a politician thinking outside the box and straying from political norms. Sanders seems to understand that Millennials are questioning the American Dream, like no other generation has done before, and is fighting hard to help them keep questioning societal norms.

So what is it about Bernie Sanders that has UVM’s Millennials fighting so hard to see him to the presidency? There seems to be a common and oh so simple consensus among UVM students: Sanders’s honesty and integrity among lying and deceiving politicians is not only refreshing, but extremely vital to the success of America’s future generations. Let’s face it, the Baby Boomer generation is aging and with it the dinosaurs we call, most, politicians. And it’s not the physically old politicians who need to be ousted, it’s those lacking the desire to move with the people into a new type of America. Millennials have different wants and needs than their parent’s generation and Sanders is brimming with political and social mobility. Maybe it’s the way his Brooklyn sass shines through even on Facebook and Twitter, but Bernie has something that the Millennials want and let’s face it, they’re used to getting what they want.

Sources

University of Vermont. (n.d.). Academics. Retrieved from http://www.uvm.edu/academics

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Millennials. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials

Neblett, B. (2014). A quote by B.J. Neblett. Retrieved from            http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1222185-we-are-the-sum-total-of-our-experiences- those-experiences

Millennial Generation [E-mail interview]. (2016, February 2).