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.
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.
