How do liberal academics suppress the expression of conservative ideas on college campuses?

Question

Some conservatives have claimed that liberal academics attempt to suppress the expression of conservative ideas on college campuses by enacting speech codes. By this, I'm assuming that they're referring to "political correctness". Personally, I don't see how this is true. After all, the speech codes on campuses usually ban such things as sexual harassment, racial slurs, and other forms of harassment. How does this in any way suppress the expression of conservative ideas? Not only that, but there's certainly no shortage of College Republicans chapters!

alex l: Actually, I HAVE been on a college campuse. I happen to have a B.A. in Spanish with a minor in German.While a few of my instructors were openly liberal, most of them didn't mention their political views. Also, believe it or not, I actually dated a Republican for a brief time. He had a history professor who was openly liberal. They sometimes debated their views in class, but they always did so respectfully and they actually LIKED one another.

Kim: Me imagino que nunca has estudiado en una universidad, cabrona.:)

Answer 1

I have attended three different colleges and have never witnessed this.

The only thing Ive seen that challenged someone's rights to free speech was a man who used to go around yelling incredibly insulting things then filming the reactions.
He was well known for insulting homosexuals and anyone else that didnt fit into his KKK influenced worldview. He would then take the videos to his church and show it to people so they would see how terrible deviants are.
His free speech was limited when someone punched him in the stomache after he said something particularly nasty.

Anytime conservative viewpoints have come up in class they were discussed and considered just as viable as a liberal viewpoint. In some classes I was the minority with a socially liberal view, in some I was the minority with a politically conservative view.

Sounds to me that the people making this accusation are merely relying on a few high profile schools and the news stories they inspire.

Answer 2

Campus speech codes in and of themselves do not really hamper free expression. The way they are often interpreted and enforced does.

Check out the links below for a few examples. Basically, what happens is that a conservative student or group makes a political statement that is then reinterpreted as "hostile" or "hateful". They are then punished for violating a speech code, even if they only questioned a public policy like Affirmative Action or gay marriage.

Another way conservative ideas can be suppressed is by simply not giving them any exposure. A lot of professors will lean heavily from left-leaning authors and opinions when discussing a topic, maybe throwing in a few moderate-conservative authors for "balance". The professor can then claim they are "objective"...even though the conservative material is used as a strawman and faces a much higher level of criticism than the liberal material.

I'm not saying it's a huge problem, and it is true that conservative students can still express themselves on campus. But it is true that they often face obstacles the other side doesn't.

And I say this as a libertarian, someone who does not agree with conservatives half the time.

Answer 3

I think conservatives think we should be teaching such ficticious things like Intelligent Design.

There's nothing intelligent about that design and is probably the best example of an oxymoron we have in the US.

Conservatives want people to stop thinking and start opening wide for the spoon fed views on all issues.

There's good reason why most colleges are liberal minded: They're intelligent and educated. The two things run hand in hand.

Answer 4

It isn't ok for anyone to shout down anybody else. Conservative right wingers who bathe themselves in ignorance and wrap a flag around themselves in the guise of patriotism lacking any sort of logic are no better than the Liberal tree hugging, welfare state, do as I say not as I do ignorant crowd. I really hate those that have a strong opinion about something without backing it up with facts or logic. The far right and the far left are no better than suicide bombers killing our boys and girls overseas.

Answer 5

The college I go to has a huge picture of Che Guevara out side the chemestry building. Since most of us know that he is a socialist murderer it should be taken down. Imagine a professor putting up a picture of Bush? We would see how long that would last.

Answer 6

That's because it's NOT true. Those who claim otherwise are the same fine folk who'd like to see us return to the idealized, white-bread ideal of America they believed in the 1950's; in the main they deeply resent anyone who invites them to remove their heads from their backsides and acknowledge that they have to live in the real world.

Answer 7

Liberals are generally regarded as the greatest champions of free speech. However, many liberals also favor "PC codes" -- that is, speech codes that are "politically correct." These codes would make it a punishable offense, for example, to call a black man a "n-word"

This has raised no end of controversy. Conservatives argue that PC codes violate free speech, or at least make the liberal defense of free speech inconsistent.

For this and other reasons, the PC movement has been dying, even on American campuses. Mainstream liberals should reject conservative attempts to tar them by its brush. But before examining this controversy, it is vital to clarify the liberal's position on free speech in general

Liberals generally believe that speech is simply another form of action. There is nothing magical or unique about speech that makes it different from any other physical action — indeed, speech is a physical action, one that has real and tangible consequences on others.

Like all action, speech should be free until it causes undue harm to somebody. Society has already outlawed many harmful forms of speech, and properly so. Examples include false advertising, fraud, libel, perjury, insider trading, disclosing state secrets to the enemy, plagiarism, copyright infringement, making violent threats to coerce someone's behavior, making bomb jokes at airports and yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater. You would not want to live in a society where speech was truly anarchic; it could literally cost you your life.

Answer 8

Conservatives said there were dinosaurs on the Noah's Ark

Answer 9

obviously you don't go to a university. give me an academic institution where the faculty and student body isn't predominantly liberal. go ahead and sit through a 100 level art class where the liberal TA shows his students pictures of gay men peeing on each other and calls it art. take a philosophy class with an atheist teacher whose teaching method is nothing but suggestive on his opinion and sends students out of the classroom when someone disagrees.

Answer 10

The affect is real because movement conservatism is racist, sexist, religiosist and homophobic at its core.