[This piece has been published in Restoring America to highlight how academic freedom and the freedom of speech on college campuses are under attack.]
I have been in the world of higher education for over two decades and have spent well over half that time serving as a professor at one of the nation’s most politically active and progressive liberal arts colleges. As such, I have had the chance to watch ideas and movements take root on our nation’s campuses of higher education and eventually pervade the nation’s socio-political zeitgeist.
Around a decade ago, the way in which students on college campuses began to talk to others, raise questions, and engage in discourse changed. Identity politics was everywhere, and only students with certain traits, characteristics, or preferences were allowed to comment on particular questions and ideas. A palpable fear emerged if one said the “wrong thing.” The term “lived experience” — which basically means that the knowledge one gains through direct, first-hand involvement in everyday events is the real truth and should be held in greater regard — was regularly invoked to anchor the legitimacy of particular views; moreover, it was invoked to silence criticism and dismiss ideas, theories, and data that did not square with empirical and established trends in understanding of the world. Hordes of administrators were appearing on campuses, setting the tone of what could be discussed and how students should engage with others on campus. Regrettably, narratives of harm and exclusion became the norm in classes and in discussions around campuses nationwide. Students were no longer thinking about how to build institutions, strengthen civil society, or find common threads to help improve community and society but rather how they have been harmed, are different and entitled to something, and believe that the nation’s institutions have been set up to balkanize citizens.
As such, so many students, faculty, and other community members were regularly self-censoring. They turned inward when confused instead of asking questions, and they were hiding their true views when challenged for fear of being attacked, mobbed, or even physically harmed by aggressive groups and peers.
Cancel culture has become a potent force on campuses, and viewpoint diversity remains under ongoing threat. Thus, I am pleased to learn that the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) — a quarter-century-old non-partisan advocacy group that has historically worked on protecting free speech rights on college campuses — has just rebranded to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Just as I have, FIRE has documented this social transformation creep from beyond the walls of our nation’s colleges and universities. A recent survey conducted by FIRE of over 37,000 college and university students around the nation reveals just how many students are uncomfortable sharing their views. When asked how often students felt that they could not express their opinions on a subject because of how other students, a professor, or the administration would respond, over half reported discomfort. Fifty-three percent of students today state that they have at least occasionally been worried about how their views would be interpreted and reacted to. That is simply unacceptable; just 17 percent report never being uncomfortable. And hundreds of professors and collegiate staffers have been reprimanded and have worried about their careers for running afoul of speech and expression norms today.
The state of expression would be problematic enough if it was contained to higher education, but the impulse to censor has spread beyond leafy quadrangles and is now omnipresent in American society. In all corners of the country, Americans are afraid to speak. While some state they do not want to hurt other people’s feelings, far greater numbers admit they are worried about the personal, reputational, or professional consequences of challenging certain seemingly prevailing sentiments. Empirical work has shown that Americans are now self-censoring at record rates. One study found that the percentage of Americans who report being afraid to share their political views has tripled since 1950. This is dangerous to our civic health; being able to debate, disagree, and work through differences enables our democracy to thrive. We must recondition ourselves to be open to opposing views and have the confidence to express our opinions without fear of retribution.
FIRE has always been a central defender of free speech, due process, and academic freedom in higher education. As these problems now permeate much deeper in American society, the nation is lucky to have an organization ready to defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to speech and thought: the most essential qualities of liberty and the core elements of a truly pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture. I wish that the nation did not need a defender of these bedrock ideas, but as our democracy is in danger, I look forward to FIRE’s future work to help promote a broad culture of speech rights and free expression.
This piece originally appeared in the AEIdeas blog and is reprinted with kind permission from the American Enterprise Institute.
