Is Free Speech in Danger on University Campus? Some Preliminary Evidence from a Most Likely Case

Abstract

While universities play a key role in questions of free speech and political viewpoint diversity, they are often associated with the opposite of a free exchange of ideas: a proliferation of restrictive campus speech codes, violent protests against controversial speakers and even the firing of inconvenient professors. For some observers these trends on university campuses are a clear indicator of the dire future for freedom of speech. Others view these incidents as scandalized singular events and regard the campus intolerance as a mere myth. We take an empirical look at some of the claims in the debate and present original survey evidence from a most likely case: the leftist social science studentship at Goethe University Frankfurt. Our results show that taking offense is a common experience and that a sizable share of students is in favor of restricting speech on campus. We also find evidence for conformity pressures on campus and that both, the desire to restrict speech and the reluctance to speak openly, differ significantly across political ideology. Left-leaning students are less likely to tolerate controversial viewpoints and right-leaning students are more likely to self-censor on politically sensitive issues such as gender, immigration or sexual and ethnic minorities. While preliminary, these findings may have implications for the social sciences and academia more broadly.

Keywords: Free Speech, Freedom of Expression, Viewpoint Diversity, University, Higher Education, Political Ideology, Tolerance