Debates in public and the media over the past several years have raised concerns that college students tend to reject free speech norms and open debate in favor of “woke” ideologies and so-called “cancel culture.” These critiques stem from highly-publicized episodes in which students have disinvited, shouted down, or otherwise prevented speakers with unpopular – generally, politically conservative – positions from speaking or expressing their views. Meanwhile, observers also have raised concerns about “self-censorship”: students refraining from expression of potentially unpopular political opinions for fear of sanctions from instructors or peers.
We sought to understand these dynamics, particularly among Johns Hopkins undergraduates:
- How open are students to viewpoints different from their own?
- How willing are students to use repressive tactics to counter views they find objectionable?
- How often do students self-censor in class and why?
This report provides preliminary evidence toward answering each of these questions based on 1,785 completed responses from undergraduate students in May, 2023.