On Campus Expression, Professors Must Step Up
Free speech and expression remain under threat on American college and university campuses. On my own campus, I’ve seen far too many cases of self-censorship. An advisee of mine regularly shares stories with me about being bullied into silence by progressive classmates. While her professor privately tells her that her ideas have merit and are worth airing, the professor appears to do little to stop the harassment and guide the discussion constructively. My advisee has resolved that it is simply easier to remain silent.
Her position is understandable. What is especially disturbing is that students – often manipulated by activist administrators – are leading the push to silence their peers on campuses today. Fears of being recorded, of having one’s words taken out of context, and of being ostracized by peers are pervasive. By letting fear fester, professors have failed in their duty to create an open and welcoming classroom.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (FIRE) landmark survey confirms the problems with free speech in the classroom. The latest survey of over 44,000 voices at 208 colleges and universities suggests that students are more comfortable speaking outside the classroom than inside of it. But this is an incomplete picture. The survey finds that while 48 percent of students are uncomfortable expressing their views on controversial political topics during an in-class discussion, 39 percent report discomfort expressing such views in common campus spaces such as a quad, dining hall, or lounge.
New data from the William F Buckley Program’s eighth annual college student survey helps shed more light on what is going on. The survey asks a national sample of students if they have ever felt intimidated in sharing their ideas, opinions, or beliefs in class because these views differed from those of their professors; 58 percent of students reported feeling intimidated by their professors, the highest level in the past eight years.
This significant number of students being intimidated is unacceptable in a place of learning and free inquiry. Still, the focus should not be solely on the faculty: 63 percent of students have felt intimidated in sharing ideas, opinions, or beliefs in class different than those of their classmates or peers. This, too, is the highest recorded figure in the past eight years, and it does not vary ideologically. Liberal undergraduates are as likely as moderate and conservative students to report feeling intimidated in class. This suggests that even those on the left do not want to be canceled or attacked for refusing to express woke orthodoxy.
In short, significant numbers of college students today are worried about running afoul of both their professors and their peers. This is unambiguous. It is absolutely critical that professors work to change this dangerous dynamic. While professors cannot control students’ behavior online and outside of the classroom, they can foster a more inclusive classroom. Professors can work to create environments where students are no longer afraid to raise questions, speak their minds, and share many of their views.
College faculty can show students the value of viewpoint diversity in learning and can push back on the administrative class at universities that promote a culture of wokeism, cancellation, and “gotcha-ism” that is infecting students. For colleges and universities to thrive again, professors must model the virtues of higher education: open expression, freedom of inquiry, and the ability to make mistakes without fear.
