Survey: Over 80 percent of Students Expect Lower Grades If They Don't Say They Hate Western Culture

I have a secret to share.

Academics don't like Western Culture, and they aren't afraid to shout that from the rooftops. They are very passionate in their hatred. They announce it every day in the classroom. 

Students are genuinely scared to disagree because they are pretty sure the professor will punish them, which reduces the value of the $100,000/year in tuition and fees they pay for the privilege of being harangued. 

A new survey of nearly 2,200 students at five Chicago-area universities found 84% felt pressure to criticize Western civilization to succeed academically, while roughly 3 in 4 reported holding back their opinions. @campusreform editor-in-chief @zachmarsch warns that students may be learning to stay silent rather than challenge ideas. “There is very little room for interrogating the history of Western civilization in a neutral, if not even a positive lens.”

— The National Desk (@TND) November 10, 2026

A new survey of nearly 2,200 students at five Chicago-area universities found 84% felt pressure to criticize Western civilization to succeed academically, while roughly 3 in 4 reported holding back their opinions.

@campusreform editor-in-chief @zachmarsch warns that students may be learning to stay silent rather than challenge ideas.

“There is very little room for interrogating the history of Western civilization in a neutral, if not even a positive lens.”

No doubt you are as shocked as I am, since every single university these kids are going to is founded on Western principles, and the whole concept of the university as it exists today is Western. (Yes, there have been variations on the idea, of course, but nothing quite like the universities that exist in the West.)

Every university any of these students attend was founded to promote Western ideals, and until recently the Western canon formed the backbone of the education they provided. 

So I assume it comes as a major surprise to my readers that the core curriculum is now characterized as THE WEST IS BAD!

Just kidding. We all know that, but many Americans still don't, which is why it remains a $2 trillion industry that gets hundreds of billions poured into it by taxpayers. 

I can’t even believe what I just watched American college student shows his professor at the University of Michigan I can’t believe people are paying for this insanity. The teacher is Dr. Laura Yakas, she teaches ‘Engaging Social Justice, Diversity, and Oppression in Social Work’ She’s literally singing about how horrible America is When people say our college universities are liberal and Marxist indoctrination camps, THIS is what they’re talking about This woman needs to be fired

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) November 11, 2026

I can’t even believe what I just watched

American college student shows his professor at the University of Michigan

I can’t believe people are paying for this insanity. The teacher is Dr. Laura Yakas, she teaches ‘Engaging Social Justice, Diversity, and Oppression in Social Work’

She’s literally singing about how horrible America is

When people say our college universities are liberal and Marxist indoctrination camps, THIS is what they’re talking about

This woman needs to be fired

How bad is it? How bad could it possibly be? 

America faces deep disagreements over its history, institutions, politics, and future. Addressing those problems requires citizens willing to challenge the ideas institutions teach them to accept, test arguments against opposing evidence, and speak openly when doing so carries a social or professional risk.

Yet new research from five Chicago-area universities suggests that many undergraduates believe some positions carry much greater academic risks than others. 

When students were asked whether challenging a professor’s negative view of Western culture could result in a lower grade, 83 percent agreed or strongly agreed. When asked whether challenging a professor’s positive view could hurt their grade, only 14 percent agreed.

When more than four out of five students fear their grades would suffer if they challenged a professor, it can't be idle fear. 

As a former academic who both attended and taught at a very liberal college, I can tell you this is hardly normal compared to a few decades ago; university professors may have fought like cats and dogs over countless petty and not-so-petty things among themselves, but punishing students for thinking was something almost everybody agreed was a no-no. 

I have a good friend who was very conservative — he interned with Russell Kirk! — and when he took Paul Wellstone's class at Carleton, he got an 'A.' Wellstone was as liberal as they come, but he sparred with students instead of punishing them. 

It's a whole different world. The institutions have been captured by the radical Left, which aims to use the positions of power (and the money) to destroy the West. Ask Abdul El-Sayed's sister, who is a University of Chicago professor, about that.

Eman Abdelhadi: “F*** the University of Chicago... but it’s my best shot at power.” At Socialism 2025, @UChicago professor Eman Abdelhadi called her employer “evil colonial landlord." Use it. Organize it. Seize its structural leverage. “We don’t have power... but I work at one of the biggest employers in Chicago... a place with thousands of people I could potentially organize... This is where I need to build power.” She openly says it’s “brutal” organizing academics. But despite her disdain, Abdelhadi sees the university as a tactical weapon—to build a Palestine-aligned political base from within.

— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) July 6, 2025

Eman Abdelhadi: “F*** the University of Chicago... but it’s my best shot at power.”

At Socialism 2025, @UChicago professor Eman Abdelhadi called her employer “evil colonial landlord."

Use it. Organize it. Seize its structural leverage.

“We don’t have power... but I work at one of the biggest employers in Chicago... a place with thousands of people I could potentially organize... This is where I need to build power.”

She openly says it’s “brutal” organizing academics. But despite her disdain, Abdelhadi sees the university as a tactical weapon—to build a Palestine-aligned political base from within.

Gee, I wonder why students there fear disagreeing with her. Her entire goal is to bring down the system that, in her eyes, makes you a privileged student. Get on board or face the consequences. 

So the students, for the most part, do. 

Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

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