Thirty percent of college students say that using violence to stop campus speech is acceptable at least in rare cases, according to a new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
It’s a slight decrease from a year ago, when a record-high 34 percent of students said the same, but it remains 12 points higher than in 2020, when 18 percent of students said violence was an acceptable response, at least in rare cases, to campus speech.
FIRE surveyed nearly 63,000 students at 262 colleges for its latest campus free speech report, which was released today—almost one year after the conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University. The report reflects slightly less polarized, but still concerning, student attitudes about campus free speech, the authors write. Fifty percent of students reported that blocking other students from attending a speech event is OK at least in rare cases, down from 54 percent last year, and 69 percent said the same about shouting down a speaker, compared to 72 percent a year prior.
“After seven years of surveying almost 350,000 college undergraduates nationwide, a sobering picture has emerged: students are reluctant to speak their minds, especially on controversial political issues,” the report states. “Many report that they self-censor regularly, avoid certain topics entirely, and doubt administrators would defend free expression if controversy struck.”
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