Nearly a third of college students think it is acceptable to use violence or other methods to stop a campus speech, according to a new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The group polled more than 50,000 college students from over 250 universities.
FIRE found 32% of students believe it is at least sometimes okay to use violence to stop a campus speech. Meanwhile, more than half (51%) said blocking other students from attending would be acceptable, and 69% said shouting down someone to prevent them from speaking on campus is OK.
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When it comes to having open and honest dialogue on campus, students say there are some topics that are more difficult to talk about than others. More than half (55%) said having an open and honest conversation about the war in Gaza is difficult, while nearly half (45%) said abortion was a tough topic and 42% said talking about transgender rights wasn’t easy.
About 1 in 4 college students surveyed also said it was “not very” or “not at all” clear if their administration protects free speech on campus.
