Undergrads Abandon Free Speech

The college student disillusionment with free speech is growing at an alarming pace,” said Buckley Program Founder and Executive Director Lauren Noble. “More students are intimidated from speaking freely and more students are willing to intimidate others from speaking freely than at any time in the history of the survey. In many ways, America’s undergraduate student body seems to be abandoning the very ideas that made America the great country it is today.”

Of the students surveyed, 58%, a record high, reported feeling intimidated in sharing an opinion that was different than a professor’s, 8% higher than last year. The number reporting never having had this issue fell to a record low of 38%. A higher 63% reported feeling intimidated in sharing opinions different than their peers, also a record high and a jump of 13% from the 2021 survey.

When it comes to hate speech or offensive speech, for the first time in the history of the survey, the plurality of college students does not believe hate speech is protected by the Constitution. 44%, the highest percentage on record, believe it is okay to shout down speakers. 41%, also a record, believe it is justifiable to use violence to prevent someone from “using hate speech or making racially charged comments.” Read More»

Ari Schaffer | “Buckley Program Releases Eighth Annual College Student Survey” | October 25, 2022

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One comment

  1. After defeating fascist regimes in WWII, the sentiment here in the U.S. was “It couldn’t happen here.” The implication was always that we were somehow different (better). The irony is that probably a fairly large component of the faculties of these universities is made up of the children of the soldiers who fought and died to defeat these fascist regimes. The past is once again prologue.

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