Our great nation was founded on the bedrock principles of freedom and liberty. The most fundamental of these rights is the ability to speak one's mind without fear of reprisal or censorship. Yet today, our institutions of higher learning - which should be bastions of open debate and a marketplace of ideas - are increasingly hostile to free expression.
College campuses have become overrun by radical leftist ideologues who seek to stifle any speech they disagree with. Conservative viewpoints are shouted down, and speakers are routinely disinvited or disrupted. Students swarm the streets and destroy public property in the name of terrorism, both domestically and abroad. Safe spaces, trigger warnings, and speech codes create an environment where students are intellectually coddled rather than challenged.
A study done in December of 2022 found that 88% of 486 schools are restricting free speech on their campuses. This disturbing trend poses an existential threat to the future of our republic. The youth of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. How will they learn critical thinking skills if they are not exposed to diverse thought in school? How will they develop the fortitude to defend their principles? Censorship breeds close-mindedness and groupthink. It is a slippery slope towards the erosion of liberty.
Enter perhaps the single most censored and persecuted leader in American history, Donald J. Trump, who has proposed a solution to this emerging threat. He’s put forward the establishment of the American Academy. This free online university would be funded by taxing endowments to “once great” educational institutions like Yale and Harvard. "We spend more money on higher education than any other country, and yet they're turning our students into communists and terrorists and sympathizers of many, many different dimensions," Trump said in his announcement of the initiative, also vowing to ensure the academy is free of “wokeness” and “jihadism.”
In 2021, Campaign for Free College Tuition conducted a poll showing that most Americans support the notion of free college. The cries from the Left on this issue only expose their hypocrisy on the subject of “equity.” This is a solution to cancel culture's problems while empowering men and women to educate their children how they see fit. After all, the Trump administration’s guiding principle was to allow everyone to pursue their version of the American dream. This dream becomes less and less clear the longer we turn our backs on the marketplace of ideas.
A college education used to be a prerequisite for said dream, but a Wall Street Journal poll conducted earlier this year shows that 56% of Americans say a four-year college degree isn’t worth the cost. And who can blame them? What is the appeal in incurring a smothering amount of debt only to be forced to comply with the Leftist Hivemind’s way of thinking? It’s about time someone gave the free speech-robbing higher education institutions a run for their money and introduced some competition into the marketplace. The real-world experience and technical education likely to follow the formation of the American Academy trumps theory and ideology seven days a week.
Free expression is the oxygen that gives life to a democratic society. Colleges have failed to fulfill their moral obligation to cultivate an environment where the free exchange of ideas is encouraged, not suppressed. Students must be exposed to challenging and thought-provoking ideas instead of spoon-fed brainwashing ethics. As someone who’s made a career promoting free speech, I can tell you that our future depends on it. To remain the land of the free, we must be the home of the brave. Free speech in schools must be defended.
Kaelan Dorr is CEO of Baldur Strategies and acting chief marketing officer for Tusk Browser. Previously, he served as Head of Global Engagement at social media company GETTR. Prior to this, Dorr was Chief Marketing Officer for 45th President Donald J. Trump’s re-election campaign.