DePauw University Ranks Dead Last in College Survey on Free Speech

“As a Republican, I felt that I could not speak up and defend myself”

Posted by Mike LaChance Monday, November 30, 2020 at 10:00am 2 Comments

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This isn’t exactly the type of distinction most schools would want. It sounds like they have some work to do.

The College Fix reports:

DePauw U. ranked dead last in massive free speech college rankings survey

“I felt extremely uncomfortable and felt like I could not express any opinions during Day of Dialogue just because I was a white female…”

“Whenever I mention politics on a few topics, I get backlash for my view on immigration and the wall considering it’s my own personal opinion. Same with gun control laws…”

“Liberal professors don’t like to hear that they are wrong. They love to talk about how we should fix things and how some group or the other is oppressed by white people (especially straight white males). They don’t want to listen to objective facts which would show that they are incorrect.”

Those are just three of the many responses fielded from DePauw University students by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and RealClearEducation as part of its recent nationwide survey of colleges and universities regarding freedom of speech and expression.

Nearly 20,000 students attending 55 different colleges and universities nationwide were asked about various free speech issues on their campuses, and when the results were tallied, DePauw University came in last among the 55 institutions.

The scores were derived by asking students’ various questions about campus openness to different topics, tolerance for discussing controversial views, administrative support for free speech, the ability of students to comfortably self-express, speech codes, and the ideological diversity of the student body.

The Indiana-based DePauw University had the highest percentage of students who said they’ve self-censored at 71 percent and was also the lowest-rated school by conservative students and the fourth lowest by liberal students, according to the results.

“A professor was making a comment on how all Republicans are racist and selfish,” one student reported. “As a Republican, I felt that I could not speak up and defend myself because of the position of power the professor was in.”