Campus free speech remains in peril in America, despite university reforms

The proportion of university students in the United States who believe violent forms of protest are acceptable to stop a controversial campus speech from going ahead rose this year, according to a new report.

The results from the largest-ever survey conducted by the campaign group Foundation for Individual Rights and Free Expression (FIRE) suggest that recent efforts by higher education institutions to affirm their commitment to freedom of expression have yet to impact culture on college campuses.

The annual College Free Speech Rankings, based on polling of 55,000 undergraduates enrolled at 250 institutions, reported that 27 per cent of students believe violence can be an acceptable form of protest to prevent a campus speech from a controversial speaker from going ahead, up from 20 per cent in 2023.

The report added that less than half of students surveyed across the country feel “comfortable expressing their views on controversial political issues on campus”, with abortion, gun control, racial inequality and transgender rights identified as the most volatile subjects.

This comes despite reforms to free speech policy passed by numerous U.S. universities this week, including Harvard University, MIT and the Prime Minister’s alma mater, Stanford University, including renewed commitments to institutional neutrality and a roll-back of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies.

This year’s survey results, however, were gathered in an unusually turbulent period for campuses in both the United States and Britain, after Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent military offensive in Gaza triggered waves of student protests and a rise in reported incidents of antisemitism.

Speaking to CNN in December, Lawrence H. Summers, a former President and critic of Harvard, argued that the failure of universities to confront the rise in antisemitism since October 7 “cannot be separated from the broader issues of political diversity” on American campuses.

Students of all political persuasions report a chilling effect on campus when it comes to discussing controversial issues. Some 73 per cent of conservative students polled reported feeling “uncomfortable” disagreeing publicly with a professor on a controversial topic and even 69 per cent of liberal students agreed, despite US college campuses leaning overwhelmingly “liberal”. 

With an average annual acceptance rate of just above one per cent, and with one of the world’s largest endowments, Harvard is considered one of the most prestigious universities in North America and a bell-weather for the health of American academia.

In recent years, however, it has come under sustained criticism from donors and the mediafor its lack of leadership on academic freedom. In December, then-President Claudine Gay was forced to resign in part due to accusations that her testimony to Congress exposed institutional hypocrisy over the enforcement of Harvard’s discrimination policies. The backlash came after Gay appeared to equivocate to Congress on the extent to which prevailing discrimination policies could protect Jewish students from violence.

In an effort to restore public trust, Harvard committed this week to remain neutral on all political issues not directly pertaining to the university.

Harvard and MIT have also both scrapped mandatory Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) statements for those seeking academic tenure in certain faculties, meaning prospective applicants will no longer have to explain how their teaching contributes to DEI as a prerequisite for being hired. Critics argue that the policy stifles political diversity among faculty.

“Institutional neutrality is essential to academic freedom”, Professor Edward Sidelsky, head of the UK-based free expression group the Committee for Academic Freedom, told Reaction. “If your employing institution is firmly on one side of a controversial issue, it is impossible to feel secure arguing the other side”.

“We hope that the UK’s Office for Students will enshrine institutional neutrality in its free speech guidance to British universities”, he added.

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