Carol Platt Liebau: Our University Students: Pressured to Feign Left-Wing Views

Thursday, August 28, 2025

It’s not an easy time to be a college student.

According to a study of roughly fifteen hundred undergrads at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, over the last two years, fully eighty-eight percent pretended to hold more left-wing views than they actually had in order to succeed socially or academically.

In other words, the atmosphere on campus is so intolerant and so punitive that there is a massive culture of self-censorship, both inside and outside the classroom.

College leaders, professors, and administrators who perpetuated this system are a disgrace. They’ve inhibited the free inquiry, stunted the moral formation, and suppressed the intellectual integrity of the young people in their charge.

American universities should be run in conformity with American values. Our country cherishes freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and freedom of conscience. Our universities should do likewise. 

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