The bias toward conservatives on campus at many campuses is so great that one school as had to make it a policy change to seek our conservative professors for hire.

Now, conservative students at a school in a deep blue state share their stories.

Danny Mackey has been called a racist, a sexist and a homophobe. In truth, he is none of them — he is simply a Republican.

This state is the fourth-most Democratic in the nation, according to a 2012 Gallup poll. In the past 40 years, the state elected just one Republican governor. Nationwide, 48 percent of college-aged voters identified as Democrats, while only 28 percent labeled themselves Republicans, a 2012 survey by The Panetta Institute For Public Policy reported.

In this deep blue environment, many conservative students at this university said they feel a negative bias from their peers, their professors and the administration.

“The Republican Party has a message that makes sense, but a lot of people our age don’t see that,” said Mackey, a sophomore civil engineering major. “I wish my liberal classmates would forget the word ‘Republican’ for five minutes and listen to what we have to say.”

The Republican Party’s main tenet is an economic message, Mackey said.

“A true Republican is just someone who is in favor of small government and personal freedom. A lot of people aren’t OK with the pro-life movement or the traditional marriage movement, but that’s not the point,” said Mackey, who supports gay marriage. “Our message is that we need to take the country on a financial track that will allow us to still exist in 100 years.”

But several students associated the Republican Party with negative traits.

For instance, when sophomore Ellyssa Sherman, a chemistry and psychology major, hears the word Republican, she thinks “closed-minded.”

Sophomore education major Annie Beachley thinks “not willing to support the less fortunate.”

And freshman English major Asher Thomas thinks “government shutdown.”

Mackey said one of the reasons students at this university see the Republican Party in a negative light is because he believes professors use their lecterns as pulpits.

Thomas, who identifies as independent, said he dropped his sociology class after the first day because he could sense his professor’s political bias.