Students Now Shy Away from Controversy After Charlie Kirk – RedState
Although the goal of any education system is to produce young adults with marketable skills, at the college level one of those skills must be the ability to confront opinions with which one may not agree, and to do so with civility and good humor. After all, learned speech is a valuable skill, and not just in the workplace.
Of course, our higher education institutions have not operated according to this principle for some time now. Instead of teaching young heads full of mush to think, the primary goal of many educators seems to be to teach them what to think, and if they don’t agree, well, they’d better keep that to themselves.
Now, a new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, finds that in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, students are even less comfortable with “controversial” topics and speakers.
Following the shooting of Charlie Kirk, half of students nationwide report feeling less comfortable attending controversial public events on campus and nearly half are less comfortable expressing their opinions on controversial topics in the classroom.
Chief research advisor Dr. Sean Stevens of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told Center Square that the September murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University “had a chilling effect – not just at UVU, but across the country.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) interviewed 2,028 undergraduates nationwide — including an “oversample” of 204 Utah Valley University students — in order to “understand how the assassination shapes student attitudes and behavior.”
Stevens told Center Square that “some data from Utah Valley University students is encouraging — revealing signs of increased tolerance, and even relative confidence in administrative protections for free speech.”
Given the current state of higher education, we can assume that “controversial public events” means “conservative public events.” And, by “controversial topics,” we can also probably assume they mean “conservative topics.”
Learn more: New poll on Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer confirms you don’t despise the media enough
Did the Democrats have a revelation? Poll finds they admit ‘extreme political rhetoric’ played role in Kirk’s death
Here’s the really annoying part, though:
However, Stevens also said that Kirk’s assassination “appears to have deepened existing ideological divides between liberals and conservatives on campus.”
A press release The survey showed that in the wake of the shooting, “moderate and conservative students across the country became much less likely to say that yelling at a speaker, blocking entry to an event, or using violence to prevent a speech on campus are acceptable actions.”
“In contrast, liberal student support for these tactics remained stable and even increased slightly,” the statement said.
In other words, and as we have observed for some time now, leftists are more willing to disrupt or coerce their opposition into silencing. Isn’t it a shibboleth of the left that violence begets violence? If we are to accept this as an operating assumption, then the left better be careful what it wishes for.
Here’s how colleges and universities across the country can handle this: Any student who uses disruptive tactics to interfere with a speaker or event should be expelled immediately. Permanently. Not a suspension. An expulsion. Any faculty member or administrator who does this will be terminated. Not a leave of absence, not a paid leave. Finished. Disappeared. Do. With a big black mark on their record to guarantee that their next job will involve learning to smile while saying “Welcome to Starbucks.” If a member of either group commits physical harm or property damage, they are not only fired but prosecuted. This is not an “investigation” carried out by campus security: criminal proceedings are being initiated.
If someone disagrees with a speaker, let them ask questions. Engage with them. Debate with them. Freedom of speech is for everyone. However, this does not guarantee someone a hearing or allow them to use a heckler’s veto to interfere with someone else’s right to speak.
Talk to people. Ask them questions. Engage with them. Compare ideas, openly, peacefully, civilly. That’s what Charlie Kirk did – until a left-wing weirdo shot him.
Editor’s note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America’s children get the education they deserve.
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