Over the past several years, many campus speeches have been objected to, shouted down, or even disrupted by violence. Often the speeches were by deliberate provocateurs, but some were by policymakers or accomplished scholars. As a result, countless op-eds, events, and even congressional hearings have debated whether college campuses welcome free expression. A wave of polls has assessed how the American public feels about the issue — with often conflicting results.
For years, social scientists have been exploring public support for civil liberties, and their work can help us understand what people actually believe. To build on this, the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy sponsored a nationally representative survey, conducted in late July and early August by YouGov, in which we asked about campus free speech.
The results are complicated. CONT.
Christopher Ellis (Bucknell), Monkey Cage