Despite its global reputation as a leader in higher education, Yale University is not exactly the model institution for open debate and reasoned discourse. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) recently ranked Yale 198th out of 203 schools for free speech and many judges have very public concerns about hiring Yale Law graduates because of their thoughts about the First Amendment. This explains why the university has been the focus of national attention for its many attempts to silence dissent. When I walked around Yale’s campus last week, the progressive political messaging was inescapable. While I was on campus, the Yale Daily News ran a story citing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as one of Yale President Peter Salovey’s top priorities, quoting him as stating, “We’re gonna have to double down and work even harder.” Salovey’s discussion of diversity, however, does not extend to viewpoints.

This leads to the question: What are Yale students interested in viewpoint diversity and open exchange and expression supposed to do?

This concern surfaced when I had the pleasure of chatting with a group of student leaders interested in helping realize the school’s values, which explicitly include the “need for unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable.” Yale’s “Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at Yale” continues by stating that “to curtail free expression strikes twice at intellectual freedom, for whoever deprives another of the right to state unpopular views necessarily also deprives others of the right to listen to those views.”

Yale students may not be able to shift campus culture immediately. Yale’s administration is deeply entrenched, among the most progressive in the nation, and their recent statements suggest that they are moving more into the diversity, equity, and inclusion world of censorship and identity politics. This does not mean that Yalies should walk away from this critically important stand.

As I relayed to the students, the nation is waking up from this madness and change is already in the works. For the immediate situation in New Haven, Yale students should continue actively norms by organizing, promoting, and defending open discourse and debate. Students will take notice of groups sponsoring and hosting events that showcase the benefits of open expression and dialogue. Furthermore, students should continue to use their platform to push for reasoned thinking, challenge reductionist and racist moves by administrators, and work with outside groups, such as Bridge USA and FAIR, to showcase viewpoint diversity nationwide. Freedom Summer was led by many Yale students and there is no reason Yale students cannot take the lead in the real world as well.

There are promising trends beyond Yale. Unlike Millennial students, Gen Z students are overwhelmingly centrist and more pragmatic. Students on campus today are increasingly tolerant of a diversity of views and are not interested in habitual protests and social media extremism. The data confirm this fact. Students are far more open-minded, practical, curious, and compassionate than what popular media tells us. Once one looks outside New England, most college and university campuses look more balanced and level-headed.

Moreover, the political world and many schools and their trustees have taken note of these “leftist colonial” tendencies in education. Arizona State has its new School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership which has been a home for diversity of thought in Tempe. The University of North Carolina just announced the formation of a new “School of Civic Life and Leadership,” which is intended to improve public discourse and increase “students’ capacities for debate and deliberation, enabling them to be better citizens, civic leaders, and stewards of our democracy.” There is also a growing list of schools that have adopted the Chicago Principles of speech and expression, which is a very promising signal.

What we are seeing now in higher education is progress, but real change takes time and persistence. Few examples of pushback against the dangerous rhetoric on the left exist, but it is progress. Yale students should be lauded for standing up for viewpoint diversity, especially in their intense environment of identity politics and victimization. Change at Yale may not come for years, but I hope that the brave students at Yale whom I spent time with continue to push back where they can. The future of higher education depends on open discourse, free from ideological persecution, and the pushback is clearly in the works. Higher education has helped countless realize the American Dream; to help countless more, we need students and administrators fighting for free expression on campus.

Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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