College Students Don’t Like Free Speech Or America

A new survey by the William F. Buckley Jr. Program at Yale University reveals a disturbing picture of American college students. The survey found that large numbers of American college students hate free speech and frankly America itself.

First up, the free speech portions of the survey:

The number in favor of using violence to stop speech jumped by 5 points to 41% in 2022; the number opposed fell to less than a majority (49%) for the first time.

When asked about cultures in which “some types of speech merit the death penalty” and whether they agreed or disagreed with the idea that “some speech can be so offensive that it merits such harsh punishment,” 48% agreed.

For the first time in the survey’s history, a plurality (48% vs. 44%) disagree that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment.

A record 63% of students reported being intimidated in sharing an opinion that differed from their peers, a jump of 13% from last year.

A record 58% of students reported being intimidated in sharing an opinion that differs from their professor, 8% higher than last year.

80%, little changed from previous years, believe the First Amendment to the Constitution is an important amendment.

A slim plurality (45%-41%) continue to oppose speech codes regulating speech for students and faculty.

American college students may pay lip service to the First Amendment but they really don’t believe in free speech. They intimidate peers who have opposing opinions and a plurality even support using violence to shut down opposing points of view. The kids are not alright.

Now for the American values portion of the survey:

50% believe America is “America is inextricably linked to white supremacy” versus 42% who think “America is moving forward.”

A greater percentage (33%) of students would prefer to live under a socialist system than prefer a capitalist one (31%).

78% believe “systemic racism is a big problem in our society and white people still contribute to it, whether they realize it or not,” including 54% of self-identified conservative students.

We have absolutely failed our children. We desperately need to bring back patriotic education in our public schools. This country is raising its young people to hate it. That must stop.

If you still have the stomach for this, we’re going into the DEI section of the survey:

67% believe that their college or university should require all professors and administrators to make statements in favor of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

65% believe new employees at “any company, business, or organization” should be required to sign a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement as a condition of employment.

While 56% of those surveyed consider themselves privileged, only 49% said they would be willing to “give up a position or job opportunity” for someone less privileged. Among racial groups, the most significant drop was for white students (65% considered themselves privileged but only 49% would give up a position) and Asian students (55% and 42%).

What these young people want to do is ban opposing points of view from getting employment. On the other hand, they’re not willing to give up their own job to someone “less privileged.” This is modern progressivism in a nutshell.

Finally, we have come to the gender identity section of the survey where we have some good news.

A plurality (45.1%) of the college students surveyed supported “recently passed legislation restricting discussion about gender identity and sexual topics for children under 10 years old in public schools” versus 43.5% who opposed it

A plurality (49.3%) of college students believe it is not fair for transgender athletes to compete in a sports league for a gender different than their gender assigned at birth, versus 40.1% who think transgender individuals should be able to compete in any league they “feel more comfortable in.”

50.8% believe their university or college “should require that students, professors, and faculty state their preferred gender pronouns when introducing themselves.”

It is clear we have been failing our young people. We have been teaching them to hate their country and traditional values. As a result, we have raised a generation that is illiberal and, ironically, intolerant.

Rebuilding American culture has to be priority number one if we’re going to have an American revival. We cannot have a generation of Americans who hate their country, hate capitalism, and do not respect different points of view. It does not speak well of our education system if these are the Americans that it is churning out.

We need to ask tough questions about college conservative organizations. They clearly are not having much of an impact. The people who are funding these organizations need to make sure they are getting their money’s worth.

There is a role for the government in rebuilding our culture. We must defund every DEI institution in states we control and on the federal level when we regain control. We must demand patriotic education in public schools.

Finally, we must push back against this cultural rot. While there is a role for government, the government cannot do this alone. We must play an active role in rebuilding our nation’s culture. Whenever race hustlers try to push racial quotas, we must push back.

We must restore pride in our nation. We need to raise young people to have pride in our free market capitalist system in our Bill of Rights, or our country is done for.