Fear of Offending Others is Chilling Free Speech on College Campuses
“University censorship regimes are teaching some students not only to live with but to embrace the conformism of thought”
This is what victim culture has brought us. People are afraid to speak freely.
Forbes reports:
New Report: Most College Students Agree that Campus Free Speech is Waning
Too many students feel afraid to speak honestly on campus for fear of offending someone, a new national survey of college students says.
University censorship regimes are teaching some students not only to live with but to embrace the conformism of thought inculcated through university speech codes, speaker dis-invitations, “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings,” and campus shout-downs of invited speakers, the report demonstrates.
On the one hand, the new report from the Knight Foundation shows that a bare majority of students still pay lip-service to the sanctity of the First Amendment, which public universities are constitutionally obligated to uphold on their campuses. The report found that 53% of surveyed students support protecting our rights to speak and disagree. The survey also revealed that 46% of students deem it more important to promote inclusion on campus.
The report highlights the principled divisions over free speech versus inclusion that surface when we view the survey answers through the lens of a number of demographic factors: race, sex, political party, religion, and sexual orientation.
Although 58% of students opined that “hate speech” should continue to receive First Amendment protection, 41% take the opposite view. Sixty percent of college women surveyed believe that efforts to promote and enforce an inclusive society are more important than fulfilling the First Amendment. Only 28% of men share this view, while 71% of college men support free speech over inclusion. A minority of women (41%) concur.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“University censorship regimes are teaching some students not only to live with but to embrace the conformism of thought”
So they are achieving their purpose. What a surprise!
“… Too many students feel afraid to speak honestly on campus for fear of offending someone, a new national survey of college students says. … ”
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they fear retaliation by the mob of brown-shirts in the student body and faculty.