Students Appear To Strongly Support Institutional Neutrality
That's just one insight to glean from a new Inside Higher Ed survey
An interesting new survey by Inside Higher Ed indicates that just 22% of students want their schools to make statements about political events — while a solid majority (54%) would prefer that their colleges or universities avoid politicking and remain silent on issues that many have been spouting off about.
Most students probably don’t toss around terms like “institutional neutrality,” but they clearly understand and strongly support the concept. This is good news for the growing number of schools that recently have been embracing this reform.
Read more about the Student Voice flash survey here.
Below are other key takeaways, followed by excerpts of Inside Higher Ed’s analysis.
A majority of students are not at all (15 percent) or not really concerned (45 percent) about the climate for civil dialogue and free expression at their institution. The rest are somewhat (30 percent) or very concerned (10 percent). Among students at private nonprofit institutions only, half indicate some level of concern. Four-year students are also more likely to indicate concern about the speech climate on their campus than are two-year students, at 44 percent versus 31 percent, respectively. Students over all are more alarmed about the speech climate across higher education.
Students who voted Republican and Democratic in the recent presidential election are similarly likely to agree, strongly and somewhat, that all students—regardless of their political views—enjoy the same level of free expression on their campus. They’re also equally likely to disagree, strongly and somewhat, that this is the case.
Over all, 43 percent of students agree that all students enjoy the same level of free expression, 20 percent are unsure and 37 percent disagree. By region, students in New England are most likely to strongly disagree (20 percent).
The largest share of students, 40 percent, say other students are most at fault for escalating tensions around campus speech, with the question offering 10 possible responses and up to two selections. The more involved students say they are in campus activism, the more likely they are to blame administrators and governing boards. Still, a third of students who indicate they’re somewhat or very involved in activism blame other students.
Much more on the survey results, and how they can be interpreted, can be found here. But probably the most important insight to be gleaned from these snapshots is that most students aren’t anxiously waiting for school administrators to posture and pontificate about whatever trendy political issue pops up on the radar screen. That should bolster the courage of school administrators or university trustees weighing the merits of institutional neutrality.