ENMU has since 1987 participated in the Cooperative Institutional Research Project (CIRP) Freshmen Survey. This edition of the DataWave reports responses on 19 questions to first year students regarding their views and opinions. The percentile scores for students agreeing with any particular question were calculated by adding the responses of those who "strongly agree" with those who "somewhat agree." Other answers available to participants were "somewhat disagree" and "disagree." According to CIRP results, freshmen at Eastern New Mexico University are conservative in some areas and liberal in others. They do not want marijuana to be legalized and encourage employer drug testing. Most of the freshmen at ENMU feel that it is not all right to have sex if people like one another and they have increasingly felt that men are not entitled to sex if "lead on." They have consistently felt that taxes should not be raised to reduce deficits and federal military spending should not increase. ENMU freshmen believe there is too much concern for criminals' rights and the death penalty should not be abolished.
They do, however, want the government to become more involved in gun control, pollution control, consumer protectionism, and in developing a national health care plan. More than half of the students want abortion to be legalized while in turn they think sex is not OK. ENMU freshmen advocate control of AIDS by mandatory testing and half believe that homosexual relations should be prohibited while the other half believe otherwise. Two progressive ideas held by ENMU freshmen are that married women aren't obligated to remain in the home, and that it is "OK" to bus students in order to achieve a racial balance. The view that nuclear disarmament is attainable and that college increases earning power also prevail among ENMU freshmen in six years of study.
| Government Not Protecting Consumer | Government Not Controlling Pollution |
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| Raise Taxes to Reduce Deficits | Too much Concern For Rights of Criminals |
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| Increase Federal Military Spending | Legalize Abortion |
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| Abolish Death Penalty | Sex OK if People Like Each Other |
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| Married Women Should Be In Home | Legalize Marijuana |
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| Prohibit Homosexual Relations | Employers Can Require Drug Testing |
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| Control AIDS by Mandatory Testing | Man Not Entitled To Sex By "Lead On" |
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| Federal Gov't Do More To Control Hand Guns | Nuclear Disarmament Attainable |
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| College Increases Earning Power | Busing OK to Achieve Balance |
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| National Health Care Plan Needed | |
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