Things in higher ed may be even worse than we thought. That’s the takeaway from a massive new survey, of more than 37,000 students at more than 150 leading colleges and universities, conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), College Pulse, and RealClearEducation.

Most disturbingly, two-thirds of students say it
is acceptable to shout down a speaker in order to stop them from speaking on
campus. And nearly
one-fourth of students now
support the use of violence to stop an objectionable campus speaker from being
heard. The share of students comfortable with violence as a tool of suppressing
speech grew to 45 percent and 43 percent, respectively, among students
receiving elite, extraordinarily expensive educations at Wellesley College and
Barnard College.

Meanwhile,
just one-third of students say that their college administration makes it very
clear that they’re committed to protecting campus free speech. Oh, and 81
percent of students reported self-censoring
their viewpoints at their colleges at least some of the time, and one in five
said they do so often.

Of the 150-plus institutions surveyed, the five that fared
worst when it came to campus speech were Boston College, Wake Forest University, Louisiana State University,
Marquette University, and, at the very bottom, DePauw University. For students
who may be thinking about attending one of these schools, consider yourself
forewarned.

If there’s one essential mission for universities, it’s that they should embrace and promote the civil, unfettered exchange of ideas. Far too many institutions across the land, private and public, are failing miserably at that charge. (If you want a sense of how this plays out in practice, see here, here, and here.) Whether it’s a product of youthful ignorance, agenda-driven faculty, feckless administration, or something else, the failure to protect free speech is a threat to the very soul of higher education — and one that is getting worse.

Fortunately, FIRE has used the results to create searchable Free Speech Rankings for all of the institutions surveyed. Students, parents, alumni, faculty, donors, and policymakers should take a moment to check them out. I can think of few things that would be healthier for American higher education than a clear signal that those pondering enrollment decisions, philanthropic gifts, or public policy are willing to act forcefully when institutions betray their core mission.

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