Report: Students Unsure of Free Speech Rights Following Encampment Protests
Credit: Image Credit: ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP / Getty Images- The latest Israel-Hamas war sparked a flurry of protests across U.S. college campuses.
- Some of these protests led to arrests and confusion about students’ free speech rights.
- Almost a year into the conflict, much of that confusion remains.
- One expert said the responsibility is on administrators to clearly define to students what types of speech are and aren’t allowed.
Nearly half of college students aren’t aware of their free speech rights, even after almost a year of intense debates about the issue.
A survey of over 3,800 undergraduate students by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) found that 29% of students are “not very” aware of their institution’s protest policies, while another 19% said they were “not at all” aware.
Additionally, those who did say they were somewhat aware of their school’s policies either misunderstood those policies or admitted they weren’t sure if certain acts were allowed.
Sean Stevens, chief research officer at FIRE, told BestColleges that administrators and shifting goalposts may be to blame.
“A lot of this is still on the administration,” he said. “They need to be clear in what their policies are, and they need to be consistent in how they enforce them.”
Stevens added that the pervasiveness of social media may also contribute to confusion.
Students across the country began seeing pro-Palestine encampments at over 100 campuses late last year, after the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.
Some administrations allowed these encampments to remain, while others forcibly removed protesters. The ones that remained may have misled students into believing that all encampments are legal, despite being banned in most instances.
“The larger level of interconnectedness through social media has really changed how people exchange ideas,” Stevens said.
The FIRE report showed that college student encampments did educate some students about their rights.
Just 40% of students from college campuses where people were arrested due to encampments said they were “not at all” or “not very” aware of their school’s free speech code. Meanwhile, 56% of students from colleges that did not have an encampment said the same.
Stevens added that students from a campus with an encampment were more likely to feel comfortable expressing views on controversial topics.
Still, students aren’t always jazzed about discussing the latest Israel-Hamas war.
FIRE has asked students to rank the topics that are hardest to discuss with peers and college faculty for years, and Stevens said the Israel conflict has been an option for many years now. But in FIRE’s latest survey, 53% said the conflict is the hardest topic to discuss currently, which is the highest percentage FIRE has ever reported for any topic.
“The events of the past year have clearly made this a flashpoint issue,” he said.
This percentage spiked even higher for students at elite, private institutions, Stevens said.
A BestColleges survey of current undergraduate and graduate students found that 31% reported experiencing limitations in expressing their opinions at school. The majority (64%) said students should be allowed to make political statements at school without fear of negative consequences.