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Is the glass a third full or two-thirds empty?
Freedom of the intellect is the lifeblood of the academy. Faculty need it, students need it. Without the robust exchange of ideas and the freedom to explore and challenge prevailing dogma and opinion, we are left with indoctrination-hardly the mind opening education of which college catalogs boast. The September 16, 2010 Chronicle headline reads: "Most Students Say It's Safe to Hold Unpopular Views on Their Campuses," based on a new report from the American Association of Colleges and Universities. This is good news or bad news, depending on what "most" means. 35.6% of the respondents "strongly agree" that it is safe to hold unpopular viewpoints on campus, and another 45% "somewhat agree." Thus, 65% just aren't so sure how safe it is: 20% outright disagree, and 45% agree with some hesitation. Perhaps by substituting statistics on the safety of different types of desirable behavior we can get a sense of how alarming the AAC&U finding is. What headline would we see if 20% of the students on a campus disagreed with the statement , "It is safe to oppose racism on my campus," or "It is safe to oppose gender discrimination on my campus"? To its credit AAC&U is disturbed by the additional finding that only 39% of the students agreed that faculty attempt to impress upon students the need to respect differing opinions. American colleges and universities have no grounds for self- congratulation over these sad findings. ACTA's State Report Cards typically find that approximately 1/3 of the students surveyed believe that there are viewpoints that are "off limits" on their campuses. Whether one-third or one-fifth of the students feel silenced, these surveys are wake-up calls that we have a crisis of principle. ACTA calls again on faculty, administrators, and trustees to ensure their campuses honor their academic birthright of intellectual freedom and diversity.
Posted by Michael Poliakoff on September 20, 2010 at September 20, 2010 12:18 PM
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