Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech but rather when students can share their viewpoints
Published January 21, 2021
It can be disheartening to witness how college culture has become inhospitable to viewpoints that fall outside of the ideological mainstream.
For example, a March 2020 report by three professors at UNC-Chapel Hill revealed that UNC students across the political spectrum, but particularly conservative students, sometimes engage in self-censorship for fear of what others may do or think.
The professors also found that 25 percent of students on campus support shutting down speakers with whom they disagree. However, the shutting-down of speakers isn’t the main affront to free inquiry on college campuses.