Fulfilling Higher Education’s Responsibility to Students and Democracy in a Challenging Political Environment

The American Association of Colleges and Universities and more than 70 higher education organizations have expressed their shared commitment to making civic inquiry and democratic engagement central to undergraduate education. A framework emphasizing the development of skills to address public issues through courses and practical experiences accompanied their prominent call. Yet, campuses currently are facing increases in educational gag orders and institutional policies aimed at limiting discussion of DEI topics and political protests. Although attacks on free speech would seem to conflict with efforts to prepare students for democracy, there has been little scholarly attention on what students know about free speech on their campus, their attitudes toward it, and how it affects civic and political engagement. We surveyed over 1,500 students in the Fall 2024 semester to understand their knowledge of free speech, whether they believe their rights to free speech are protected or threatened, whether they believe university administrators should be allowed to infringe on student speech, and their level of civic engagement. Findings reveal that students have moderate knowledge of free speech on campus. Further, they perceive that administrators are somewhat unlikely to violate speech rights and would oppose actions that did. We also find that students are not very active in democracy and engagement is not meaningfully related to free speech knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes. A discussion follows on the implications of our analysis and pathways for new scholarship on the relationship between free speech on campus and higher education’s civic mission.