Commentary: College Students Have Something to Say. It’s Just Not What You’d Expect.

by Jonathan Malesic, New York Times In the debate over free speech and social justice, commentators on the right and the “heterodox” left often claim that college students are all either stridently liberal or cowed into silence by those who are. April 06, 2023 1 min read

by Jonathan Malesic, New York Times

In the debate over free speech and social justice, commentators on the right and the “heterodox” left often claim that college students are all either stridently liberal or cowed into silence by those who are.

As someone who has spent two decades teaching at colleges large and small, public and private, I don’t recognize this description — and it’s not because I think that it’s conservative students who are dominating the discourse. In my experience, college students are all too reluctant to express strong opinions about the world at large.


Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards
A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards

Linda E. McMahon, Secretary of Education  August 06, 2026 1 min read

For the good of the Nation, university leadership must seize this occasion to drive essential reforms—a process some began by adopting positions of institutional neutrality and improving policies related to campus protests. Before the end of 2026, I call on every postsecondary institution to describe to the American public your commitments to rigorous teaching, pathbreaking research, and national service—commitments that make our universities a bedrock institution of the American republic.

Read More
New Compact Shows Resistance Works, but Fight for Higher Ed Isn’t Over
New Compact Shows Resistance Works, but Fight for Higher Ed Isn’t Over

Todd Wolfson and Randi Weingarten August 06, 2026 1 min read

Now the administration is back with Compact 2.0, formally titled "A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards." It includes some rhetorical flourishes intended to make it seem less threatening to teaching, learning and research. But make no mistake: It once again asks colleges and universities to align themselves with a far-right agenda at the expense of students’ education and the public’s well-being.

Read More
‘Radical Reform’: Trump Official Explains New Plan to Get Colleges to Change
‘Radical Reform’: Trump Official Explains New Plan to Get Colleges to Change

Francie Diep  August 06, 2026 1 min read

Read More