Nearly 1 in 3 College Students Say Violence to Stop Campus Speech Is Acceptable
“Almost 1 in 3 students”
The assassination of Charlie Kirk looks a little different in light of this story, doesn’t it?
The College Fix reports:
31 percent of students say some level of violence acceptable to stop campus speech: survey
Almost 1 in 3 students say using violence to stop a campus speech is acceptable, according to the results of a nationwide survey of college students released Wednesday.
About 63,000 students at 262 schools surveyed online by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression were asked, among other questions: “How acceptable would you say it is for students to engage in the following actions to protest a campus speaker? Using violence to stop a campus speech.”
Three percent said “always acceptable,” 12 percent said “sometimes acceptable,” and 16 percent said “rarely acceptable.” The rest, 69 percent, replied it’s never acceptable.
When the responses are broken down by political ideology, both conservative and progressive students maintained similar percentages in how they answered the question.
Last year, the annual FIRE survey found 34 percent of students said some level of violence acceptable to stop campus speech, three percentage points higher than this year’s results.
This year, 50 percent of respondents said “blocking other students from attending a campus speech” is acceptable on some level, and 69 percent said “shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus” is always, sometimes, or rarely acceptable.
“Encouragingly, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s seventh annual College Free Speech Rankings found the percentage of students who said it was acceptable to shout down a speaker, block entry to a campus speech, or use violence to stop a campus speech declined slightly from last year’s record highs,” the foundation stated in a news release.
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Comments
“When the responses are broken down by political ideology, both conservative and progressive students maintained similar percentages in how they answered the question.”
i don’t believe that for a minute. There have been many instances where liberals have self-identified as conservative for the express purpose of skewing survey results. Absent external, independent verification, any self-identification of political position must be viewed with skepticism.
I agree. There are plenty of instances of progressives disrupting speech. There are few of any of conservatives.
Plus, screw that claim anyway.
I want to see it broken down by race and by sex.
Let’s see…if a group violently tries to suppress speech, then it’s OK for another group to suppress that group violently as well, right? Even the first group would have to agree.
Why? Because the first protesting group always argues that suppressing protest is anti-1A. They implicitly state that their protest is protected speech. But if it’s speech, and they’re “justified” in making it public by violently countering someone else’s speech, then they have just moved into the same slot occupied by the first speaking group that they’re protesting.
Sauce for the goose….
I would say the use of violence against college students who make this claim is not only acceptable but necessary. Wake-up call… Bring them back to reality.