Most of our college students oppose the allowance of speakers with controversial opinions on campus |

New survey of nearly 70,000 universities student All across the United States have found that most people oppose speakers who allow speech on campus with controversial views, whether liberal or conservative.

These findings come from Ranking of the 6th Annual University Free Speechpublished Tuesday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), freedom of speech Watchdogs work with University Pulse.

Drawing on answers from 68,510 students from 257 American universities and universities, the report depicts students’ perceptions of campus speech and their views and experiences on freedom of speech on campus.

In the history of the investigation, the fire first discovered that most students opposed their colleges hosted six hypothetical speakers, with controversial views – three labeled as liberals and three labeled as conservatives.

“This year, students largely allow any controversial campus spokesperson, regardless of the speaker’s politics,” said a statement released by the report. “Neither the liberals nor the conservative college students heard the voice of their ideological opponents and completely evacuated the encounter.”

The study warns that trends can have far-reaching consequences. “This only undermines students’ ability to think critically and create rifts between them,” Lukianoff added. “We must advocate free speech on campus to address the remedies that address the deep polarization of our culture.”

this Report Found that support for freedom of speech continues to decline among students of all political affiliations, And reported this “Conservative students are increasingly joining the liberal peer support censorship,” “every politically persuasive student is very reluctant to encounter controversial ideas.”

“The atmosphere is not only cautious, but hostile,” the report notes. “Students continue to show low tolerance for controversial spokespersons and, more troubling, more trusting, shouting speakers, blocking the opportunity to incidents, and even resorting to violent litigation at any time before.”

It found that the positions “have remained stable or worsened over the past year.”

The investigation also found that support for the damaging strategies of silent speakers also improved and reached record levels. According to the survey results, one-third of the students surveyed said that even if it was only “seldom”, even if it was only “seldom” of acceptance, even if violence stopped campus speeches, improving campus speeches from one fifth in 2022.

Additionally, only 28% of students said it was never acceptable to “scream to prevent them from speaking on campus”, while 5% said it was always acceptable, sometimes 31% said it was acceptable, while 35% said it was rarely acceptable.

46% of respondents said it was “never acceptable” to prevent other students from attending campus speeches.

“More students than ever think violence and chaos are acceptable options for peaceful protests,” said Sean Stevens, principal research consultant at Fire. “This discovery crosses partisan boundaries. It’s not a liberal or conservative issue — it’s a problem for the United States. Students think they oppose threatening rhetoric and their exaggerated responses lead to a volatile political atmosphere.”

The report also ranks universities based on freedom of speech policy and environment.

Claremont McKenna College ranks the list of schools, followed by Purdue and the University of Chicago. At the bottom are Barnard College, Columbia University and Indiana University. The Guardian has contacted low-ranking schools for comment.

The fire cited “restrictive speech policy” and some events that occurred last year, such as “Threat the freedom of the press,,,,, Speaker cancellation and Cancel student protest” as a contributor to the lowest ranking.

Overall, only 36% of students said it was “extremely” or “very”, with their government protecting freedom of speech on campus, while only 11 institutions received C or higher C or higher in the fire assessment campus speech environment.

However, some institutions have shown improvements, including Dartmouth College and Vanderbilt University. The report acknowledges the school’s amendment of its speech policies and the adoption of institutional neutrality.

The report comes amid a heightened tensions on U.S. college campuses as the Trump administration has made unprecedented efforts to reshape Higher Educationincluding combating pro-Palestinian student protesters (some of whom face detention and deportation) Cause attention and anger From civil liberties and freedom of speech groups. In a settlement with Colombia, the school agreed to take a number of measures condemn Academic freedom advocates are the conditions to restore government cuts in federal funds.

The fire investigation also requires students to identify the most difficult topics to discuss publicly on campus. The majority of students nationwide (53%) said the Israel-Palestinian conflict was the hardest to “have open and honest protection”, including 90% of students at Barnard College. Abortion ranked second, followed by trans rights and the 2024 presidential election.

The report also found that students were “unwilling to express their ideas, especially on controversial political issues,” with many acknowledging that “they self-censor regularly, avoiding certain topics altogether, and suspect that their administrators would defend free expression if the dispute aroused controversy.”