Study: UNC Conservative Students Afraid to Speak Out on Campus

According to a new report from the University of North Carolina, conservative students at the Chapel Hill campus find the environment for their opinions so hostile that they choose to censor themselves rather than face the fiery resistance.

From Campus Reform:

The report, titled, “Free expression and constructive dialogue at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” contained a number of key findings as they relate to conservativism on college campuses, the first being that 30.8  percent of students say college made them more liberal in their views, while half that percentage, or 15.9 percent, said college has made them more conservative.

The authors published 12 principal findings from the report, and from those 12 findings produced four conclusions, the first one being that “the majority of their UNC professors do try to discuss both sides of political issues and encourage opinions from across the political spectrum.” The fourth conclusion was similarly promising in that it stated that “students across the political spectrum want more opportunities to engage with those who think differently.”

The second and third conclusions were much more troubling, however.

“The current campus does not consistently promote free expression and constructive dialogue across the political spectrum,” the second conclusion states. The third conclusion states that “although students across the political spectrum report facing challenges related to free expression, these challenges seem to be more acute for students who identify as conservative.”

If you’re a liberal, it’s easy to look at something like this and say, “Oh, who’s the snowflake, now?” But it doesn’t track. These conservative students aren’t asking for a safe space. They aren’t demanding that curriculum be changed to better reflect their rigid worldview. And they certainly aren’t shutting down speakers and lecturers with the idiotic idea that “speech is violence.”

No, these students are (rightly, no doubt) concerned that speaking their mind in class or on campus will get them cancelled. Not by other students – although that’s always a concern when you’re talking about a rabid left-wing mob – but by the professors themselves. These academic socialists run their classes like miniature fiefdoms, often demanding that students adopt their worldview if they want to pass.

This is where students who believe in conservative principles run into trouble; who knows when a stray defense of President Trump or an offhand remark about illegal aliens might wind up sinking your GPA?