Justice Jackson Says the 'Most Horrible Thing I've Ever Heard' About the First...
The Trump Campaign Has a New Description for Joe Biden
Ungrateful Palestinians Complaining About US Aid Undercuts Their 'We're Starving' Narrativ...
Netanyahu to Biden: I'm Taking Rafah, Destroying Hamas, And You Can’t Do Anything...
Texas Just Got Some Bad News From the Supreme Court About Their Immigration...
Hitler the Stand-Up Comedian
NYT Once Again Acknowledges Just How Devastating Pandemic School Closures Were on Students
FDNY Won't Investigate Those Who Booed Letitia James, But Don't Expect Love for...
Joe Biden Is Back to Pretending His Granddaughter Doesn't Exist
Bob Good, Chip Roy Lead Letter Insisting Spending Bills Secure the Border
Biden in Trouble Not Just in Battleground States, but Battleground Districts
Here's Who Is Back in the Lead on Eve of Ohio Primary
One State May Ban Public Funds for So-Called ‘Gender-Affirming’ Care
Team Trump Makes Moves Following Fani Willis Decision
Laken Riley’s Father Is Speaking Out
Tipsheet

Poll Shows One Fifth of College Students Say Violence Against Controversial Speakers is Acceptable

A disturbing new poll shows that a full 19 percent of college students think that it is acceptable to use violence to disrupt a speaker who is saying "offensive and hurtful" things on campus. This number is slightly higher among students who identify as Republican compared to Democrat students (22 to 20 percent), and is significantly higher among male students (30 percent) versus females (10 percent).

Advertisement

The survey was conducted by John Villasenor, who is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution as well as a professor at UCLA. 

The poll also found that nearly 40 percent of students do not believe that the First Amendment covers "hate speech" (which it does), and that slightly over half of the students surveyed believe that it is okay to shout down a speaker who is making controversial comments so that they cannot be heard. Unlike the question that concerned the use of violence to stop a speaker, this question found that significantly more Democrats (62 percent) were in favor of this technique compared to Republicans (39 percent). 

Advertisement

The poll was taken over the last two weeks of August. 

Obviously, none of this is okay. On public universities, free speech must be protected lest it get taken away for everyone. It is not up to students to decide which speech is acceptable for others to hear and what is unacceptable. That's not their job, and  violence is never okay, period. 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement