Judge Duncan’s Struggle Session Shows Why We Need Fiercer Protection Of Free Speech

The Stanford disruptors’ objective was to destroy American civil society and replace it with leftist authoritarianism, preventing dissent.

New Video Shows University Of Oklahoma Teaching Faculty How To Silence And Punish ‘Problematic’ Conservatives

'In the classroom, free speech does not apply,' a workshop spokeswoman said. 'As instructors, we can tell our students no, you do not have the right to say that, stop talking right now.'

Cambridge University Just Delivered A Clear Victory For Free Speech

The voting result at Cambridge showed that the majority of people, regardless of their political and ideological affiliations, value free speech.

Why Identity Politics’ Speech Controls And Self-Government Cannot Coexist

Only freedom of speech can preserve republican self-government, and only it can cool the fanatical hatreds and false theories underlying identity politics.

Majority of Americans — including 60% of Democrats — say feeling 'welcome and safe' is more important than being able to speak freely online



What's more important, protecting Americans' feelings or protecting Americans' ability to speak freely?

The ability to speak one's mind has come under attack in everyday life — from social media companies' attempts to keep controversial content off their sites to college campuses' efforts to create safe spaces and squash offensive speech.

Apparently most Americans are OK with that, at least according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

What's that now?

Americans have grown more intolerant when it comes to speech — particularly speech they say hurts their feelings.

For example, there has been a concerning movement on college campuses to stifle speech that some students find offensive. Some students, Campus Reform revealed, say they're willing to give up free speech so others can "feel comfortable." And a FIRE survey shared this month showed that nearly one-fifth of college students say its OK to use violent means to shut down speech they deem offensive.

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have long been criticized for reportedly censoring conservative voices that some people find offensive. For example, just last week, Blaze Media's Mark Levin went after Facebook for throttling the reach of his media page, accusing the company of trying to influence the election.

With current attitudes of some Americans and the actions of social media and online video companies in mind, it probably will not surprise most readers to hear that a majority of Americans believe people's feelings are more important than being able to speak one's mind online.

According to Pew, 53% of U.S. adults say "being able to feel welcome and safe online" is more important than "people being able to speak their minds freely online."

Democrats were more likely than Republicans to feel that way — but many free speech advocates are likely not thrilled with the share of GOPers who also backed feelings over free expression: 60% of Democrats and 45% of Republicans said feeling safe is more important than free expression.

These results are a six-point jump for Democrats and a six-point drop for Republicans since 2017.

Broken down by party and gender, it's clear that within parties, women are more likely than men to put concern over feelings ahead of freedom of expression.

A majority of GOP women (54%), Democratic women (64%), and Democratic men (55%) ranking feelings ahead of freedom in this survey. Only among GOP men does a minority (36%) believe feeling safe is more important than speaking freely.

Worrying percentage of college students support violence to stop campus speech; worst colleges for free speech named



A new poll revealed that a disturbing percentage of college students are in favor of using violence to stop a campus speech. The survey, by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Real Clear Education, and College Pulse polled 20,000 students from 55 different colleges, found that nearly one-fifth of college students believe it is acceptable to use violent means to shut down speech that they may agree with or deem offensive.

The poll found that 18% of college students approve using violence in certain situations to stifle campus speech. That number rises to 21% at Ivy League schools, and drops to 15% at colleges in the Southeastern Conference.

"Liberal students expressed a higher acceptance of violence," FIRE explained. "Students identifying as extremely liberal said violence to stop a speech or event from occurring on campus was 'always' or 'sometimes' acceptable at a rate double than students identifying as extremely conservative: 13% to 6%. More than a quarter of extremely liberal respondents said it is 'rarely' acceptable, compared to 8% of extremely conservative respondents."

"One quarter of atheist students and black students expressed some level of acceptance for violence, as did 27% of LGBT students," the poll revealed.

Over 60% of extreme liberals proclaim that it is "always" or "sometimes" acceptable to shout down a speaker, compared to only 15% for extreme conservatives.

The hostile atmosphere against speech deemed as offensive or inflammatory has caused conservative college students to self-censor to avoid conflict. While 55% of liberal students self-censor, 72% of conservative students feel the need to self-censor.

More than 40% of college students said the topic of race is a difficult topic to have an open and honest discussion about. There were 45% of students who said abortion would be a problematic topic to broach.

When it comes to guest speakers appearing at colleges and universities, there is a bias against conservative orators. The FIRE poll found that an overwhelming 87% of students would welcome former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to speak, but only 69% would allow President Donald Trump to speak on campus.

Conservative students were much more tolerant in hearing speakers who they disagree with politically, and 71% of strong Republicans support Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden coming to speak at their campus. Meanwhile, only 49% of strong Democrats would allow President Trump to speak at their college.

The research also provided metrics for FIRE to name the best and worst colleges for free speech.

The best colleges for free speech:

  1. The University of Chicago
  2. Kansas State University
  3. Texas A&M University
  4. University of California, Los Angeles
  5. Arizona State University

The worst colleges for free speech:

  1. Syracuse University
  2. Dartmouth College
  3. Louisiana State University
  4. University of Texas
  5. DePauw University

FIRE ranked the worst free speech higher learning institutions by "rating for colleges that explicitly prioritize other values above free speech."

Georgetown Student Petition: Create a 'Sanctuary Space' Campus by Banning Cops

Students at Georgetown University published a petition this week in which they argued that police should be banned from the campus. By banning police, the students suggest that officials could create a "sanctuary space" for protesters.