Nearly Half of College Students Believe Violence Justified to Stop Offensive Speech, Poll Finds
A new survey indicates a rise in support for censoring offensive speech and employing violence to do so among undergraduate students.
A significant portion of college students believe violence can be justified to halt offensive speech and that those expressing such views should face criminal prosecution, according to a recent survey. The poll found that 45% of undergraduate students agree that physical violence can be justified to prevent someone from using hate speech or making racially charged comments.
This marks a six-point increase from the previous year and ties the all-time high of 45% recorded in 2023. The level of agreement was 30% when the question was first asked in 2017.
The survey also revealed that 40% of college students believe individuals should face criminal prosecution for expressing opinions they find offensive. This figure represents a seven-point increase from last year and is the highest in the three years this question has been included in the poll.
Additionally, 42% of students surveyed agreed that political comments they disagree with can be harmful to their mental health, an increase of four points from the prior year and the highest reading in five years.
The survey, conducted by the Buckley Institute in mid-September, polled 803 full-time undergraduate students at four-year colleges and universities across the country. Students aged 25 and older, part-time students, and those in community colleges or trade schools were excluded from the sample.
Lauren Noble, executive director of the Buckley Institute, expressed concern over the findings, calling the high levels of support for censorship among undergraduates a "warning to America." She stated that these students will carry these perspectives into their communities and workplaces after graduation.
"Two hundred fifty years after America’s founding, defenders of the First Amendment should be worried about what the future holds when these censorious students assume positions of leadership," Noble said.
She added that higher education institutions are failing to adequately educate students on the importance of free speech. "The survey data shows that America’s colleges and universities are clearly not doing enough to impress upon their students why free speech is so critical to a free society," Noble noted. "When significant numbers of college students accept violence and shout downs as appropriate responses to speech they disagree with, alarm bells should be ringing for Americans across the political spectrum."