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July 30, 2024
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, members and friends,
While the nation is gripped by the uncertainty of the Presidential race, what’s happening in higher education may not be a focus of attention. But plenty is going on, even in July. Four surveys published this month track trends that have direct impact at Princeton and most universities in the country. The surveys featured here measure the following: 1) the radical decline of public confidence in higher education, 2) the dramatic rise in student and faculty concern about censorship and self-censorship post-October 7, 3) the dismantling of DEI programs, and 4) the lack of student knowledge of their country’s government and history. As universities including Princeton prepare to welcome students to campus next month, the results of these surveys will shape campus experience.
We also remind our subscribers of PFS’s own survey published in June – the second annual poll of Princeton students. Follow the link to see the results, and PFS’s recommendations for improving the campus free speech and academic freedom climate at Princeton: Princetonians Student Free Speech Survey Shows More Work Needs To Be Done.
U.S. Confidence in Higher Education Now Closely Divided
Nearly as many U.S. adults have little or no confidence as have high confidence
By Jeffrey M Jones, Gallup
An increasing proportion of U.S. adults say they have little or no confidence in higher education. As a result, Americans are now nearly equally divided among those who have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence (36%), some confidence (32%), or little or no confidence (32%) in higher education. When Gallup first measured confidence in higher education in 2015, 57% had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence and 10% had little or none.
See this related report: Gallup: Higher Education Plunges in Public Confidence
By Jonathan Turley, July 9, 2024 jonathanturley.org
Surveys reveal rising student and faculty concern about censorship, self-censorship post-October 7
By Emily Nayyer, July 12, 2024, Thefire.org
In a year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict went from barely a blip on most students’ radars to an almost all-consuming concern. Findings from FIRE’s forthcoming 2025 College Free Speech Rankings survey reveal that far more students this year than last year worry about censorship and self-censorship related to the war in Gaza.
As of May 2, FIRE analyzed almost 1,900 open-ended responses from university students nationwide for this year’s CFSR survey. The survey asked students who reported self-censoring at least once or twice a month, “Please share a moment where you personally felt you could not express your opinion on your campus because of how you thought other students, a professor, or the administration would respond.” In almost 9 in 10 responses, students explicitly stated concerns about censorship when discussing Israel, Palestine, and/or Gaza with friends, classmates, and/or professors. Students also overwhelmingly reported witnessing or experiencing censorship and/or self-censorship when discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. …
The barometer survey results further reveal that 76% of U.S.-based scholars of the Middle East have felt a greater direct or indirect need to self-censor since the start of the war. And 69% reported self-censoring on topics involving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (By contrast, in 2023’s barometer survey, conducted only a little more than a month after October 7, that percentage was 57%.) … Even before October 7, FIRE reported faculty members were self-censoring more than they did during the McCarthy era. The barometer survey’s findings suggest that conditions for free speech on campus are deteriorating even further.
Tracking Higher Ed’s Dismantling of DEI
By Erin Gretzing, Maggie Hicks, Christa Dutton and Jasper Smith, The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 15, updated July 26, 2024
The Chronicle is tracking higher ed’s dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. As colleges make changes in response to anti-DEI legislation and mounting political pressure, an inconsistent and confusing landscape has emerged. This resource aims to document the changes and help readers better understand how the campaign against DEI has actually reshaped campuses.
By Bradley Jackson and Michael B Poliakoff, Real Clear Education, July 9, 2024
How much do today’s college students really know about their nation’s past? The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has conducted a fresh national survey of college students to answer just this question. The results are concerning.
Sixty percent of college students could not correctly identify the term lengths of members serving in U.S. Congress. Sixty-three percent were unable to identify the chief justice of the Supreme Court. These are multiple-choice questions. Students did not have to recall John Roberts’s name, they merely had to recognize it, and a large majority failed. The same is true for the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, whose name was only known to 35% of students. Sixty-eight percent did not know that impeachment trials occur before the Senate, despite living through two presidential impeachments as well as the impeachment trial of a cabinet official.
Why the ‘Words are Violence’ Argument Needs to Die
The response to the attempted Trump assassination proves that Cancel Culture is real — and that ‘speech = violence’ is bullshit.
By Greg Lukianoff, The Eternally Radical Idea, Substack, July 19, 2024
“Higher Ed is Lying to Students About Freedom of Speech”
The Coddling of the American Mind, Substack, July 15, 2024
This College Professor may have figured out how to kill DEI
Zack De Piero’s lawsuit against Penn State has implications that go beyond this case.
By Michael Shellenberger, Public, Substack, July 8, 2024
Universities need to leave DEI Behind
The universities in question are dominated by a progressivism that pervades DEI departments, where the world is divided between the oppressed and oppressors, unprivileged and privileged.
By Carine Hajjar, Boston Globe, July 18, 2024
By Yolanda Watson Spiva, Real Clear Education, July 22, 2024
Amid an especially fraught presidential election, polarizing armed conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, and deepening political divides over issues like immigration, the economy, and even our democracy itself, the nation is facing a politically charged moment that shows no signs of abating. Tribalismis on the rise, as is an intense—and historic—distrust of many of our nation’smost important institutions, including Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidency. Higher education has not been spared from this crisis of faith,with just 36 percent of Americans now expressing confidence in the country’s system of colleges and universities.
How Liberal College Campuses Benefit Conservative Students
Right-wing culture warriors ignore the value of being surrounded by ideological opponents.
By Lauren A. Wright, The Atlantic, July 8, 2024
At Princeton University, where I have taught political science for seven years, conservative students make up just 12 percent of undergraduates. Throughout college, they hear alternative perspectives and hone their own arguments, anticipating opposition. In research for a book in progress—Tested: Why Conservative Students Get the Most Out of Liberal Education—I conducted dozens of in-depth interviews with students at Princeton and other competitive schools. Of the 28 conservatives I’ve spoken with so far, more than 90 percent report attending events featuring speakers with whom they disagree, compared with less than half of the 15 liberals I’ve interviewed. Nearly all of the conservatives said that they’ve been challenged by professors or other students in classroom discussions, but just two of the liberals said the same. These reports echo national surveys, which find that conservative students are more open to speakers of any ideological bent than are liberal students, who tend to support only speakers they agree with.
Campus Indoctrination's Costs Outweigh Unintended Benefits
By Peter Berkowitz, Real Clear Politics, July 21, 2024
A respectful critique of the article above by Lauren A. Wright, who is Associate Research Scholar in Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton.
To restore Harvard's reputation, faculty should speak up
In countries like China and Russia, one is punished if they present an idea that is classified as antipatriotic. Is this truly the direction that Harvard should now be turning?
ByJohn Evangelakos, Jason H.P. Kravitt, and William Schmalzl, Boston Globe, July 4, 2024
(Jordan Peterson posted this article to his 5.3 million followers on X, formerly Twitter: “Academics with spines @Harvard. Probably too little too late, but it’s good to see.”)
Ben Sasse, former Senator from Nebraska who recently stepped down from his position as President of the University of Florida to attend to his wife’s critical illness and his children.
“What we tell all of our students, protesters and non, is that there are two things we’re going to affirm over and over again: We will always defend your right to free speech and free assembly. And also, we have time, place and manner restrictions. You don’t get to take over the whole university. You don’t get to spit at cops. You don’t get to barricade yourselves in buildings. You don’t get to disrupt somebody else’s commencement. We don’t allow protests inside. I ran by our group of protesters waving their Palestinian flag – we protect their right to do that. But we have rules. And one of those rules is we don’t allow camping on campus. You can’t build an encampment. But our goal is not to arrest people, it’s to help them get into compliance with the rules. They can protest. They can try to persuade people, but they don’t get [to] build a camp.”
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, Members and Friends,
PFS hosted two events this month, one in Santa Barbara, California, and the other on campus. See details in the Special Feature below.
Additionally, our next PFS Inner Circle event is coming up. On November 21 at 4 pm EST Abigail Anthony '23, journalist and graduate students at Oxford University, will discuss free speech in journalism, her experience as a student activist, and more. You can event this event and all of our Inner Circle events by joining the Inner Circle subscription.
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, Members and Friends,
As the academic year begins at Princeton and on campuses throughout the country, an extraordinary array of newsworthy events has already occurred. In the wake of last semester’s sustained campus disruption and a contentious national election around the corner, this may be just the beginning. We start not with the usual one, but three Special Features.
To Princetonians for Free Speech Subscribers, Members and Friends,
This week is Orientation for new students at Princeton. Students, faculty and staff are, no doubt, on edge. The encampment on Cannon Green and the arrests for criminal trespass of Clio Hall are fresh in everyone’s memory. Despite clear and intentional actions that broke Princeton’s rules of conduct and its core commitment to free expression and respectful disagreement, the administration struggled to respond clearly.
This moment requires clarity from Princeton’s leaders on the rights and responsibilities concerning free speech, academic freedom, respect for viewpoint diversity and rules of civil discourse.
Princeton boasts robust free speech protections and rules around peaceful protest. But principles and rules “on paper” are not enough. Specific actions need to be taken to regain the practice of a true liberal education, which is by necessity rooted in free expression. Diverse perspectives are what empower students to engage in challenging ideas and learn from respectful disagreement. Threats and harassment are not part of what free expression means. Princeton has a long way to go to embed core principles into the everyday experience and outlook of students, faculty and administrators. As students return to campus, we present The PFS Top Ten – the ten most important reforms Princeton’s leadership should consider.
