One of the many things that make this country great is that our founding fathers were so intelligent and forward-thinking. They came up with a concept called free speech and valued it so greatly that it became the Constitution’s First Amendment. Here’s the exact wording; “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
According to a new study, there’s a place where free speech is a foreign concept.
College campuses. A Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression survey found that college professors are scared to death about being canceled. And that means they are changing their behavior for self-preservation — biting their tongues and not saying what they believe.
The details were revealed in a story in the NY Post. Rikki Schlott, the author of the piece, talked to the President of the group that conducted the survey. Here’s what Greg Lukianoff told her.
“I’ve been defending free speech on campus for twenty-two years now, and it was clear that things have been getting much worse over the past couple of years.”
That’s not good. Here’s a closer look at what the study revealed. 52% of professors say they are “afraid of losing their jobs or reputations because someone misunderstands something they said or did, takes it out of context, or posts something from their past online.”
That’s a legitimate fear.
72% of the conservative professors polled and 56% of the moderates live in fear of being canceled. 40% of liberal faculty members said they fear losing their jobs and reputations.
Over a third said they can’t express their opinions because colleagues, students, or their administration will respond to it in a way that could hurt them.
Luikianoff revealed that 11% of the faculty members he talked to had been disciplined or threatened with discipline by their administrators for what they taught.
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