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The William F. Buckley, Jr. Pro
gram at Yale
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Contact: Lauren Noble: 781-698-9208
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALMOST HALF (49%) OF U.S. COLLEGE STUDENTS "INTIMIDATED" BY PROFESSORS WHEN SHARING DIFFERING BELIEFS: SURVEY
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72% say their college or university should be doing more to promote diversity of opinions in the classroom and on campus
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Almost One-Third (32%) Misidentify First Amendment
New Haven CT -- Oct. 26...
A national survey measuring the opinions of U.S. college students on the issue of free speech on college campuses was released today by
The William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale
, which sponsored the poll.
The 2015 Buckley Free Speech Survey
, which was conducted by nationally respected pollster, McLaughlin & Associates, revealed a wealth of information about how college students view rights and topics such as: The First Amendment; speech codes; academic freedom; trigger warnings; "political correctness;" and intellectual diversity, among other things. The national survey of 800 undergraduate students was conducted online and respondents were carefully selected and screened from a nationwide representative platform of individuals who elect to participate in online surveys.
"The William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale was founded to increase intellectual diversity on the Yale University campus and beyond, and this survey shows that we have a great deal of work to do," said Buckley Program founder and executive director Lauren Noble. "The survey results confirmed some of what we expected, but they also revealed troubling surprises. It is the opinion of the Buckley Program that university campuses are best served by free and open speech, but, lamentably, that opinion is anything but unanimous, the survey shows. "
Highlights from the
2015 Buckley Free Speech Survey
include:
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Seventy-two percent (72%) of students surveyed said they support disciplinary action for "any student or faculty member on campus who uses language that is considered racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise offensive";
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By a nearly two to one margin, students said their school is generally more tolerant of liberal ideas and beliefs than conservative ideas and beliefs, 37% to 20%. Thirty-six percent (36%) said their school was equally tolerant of both.
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When given a choice, just one in ten (10%) say colleges, universities and government should regulate free speech more. A slight plurality (46%) says free speech is important, but there should be exceptions to every rule and 42% support freedom of speech in all cases;
Those surveyed were:
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Race/Ethnicity: 54% white, 15% African American, 14% Hispanic/Latino, 8% Asian, 7% one or more.
POLL METHODOLOGY ON NEXT PAGE:
Methodology
McLaughlin & Associates conducted a national survey of 800 undergraduate students from September 19
th
to 28
th
, 2015. All interviews were conducted online and respondents were carefully selected and screened from a nationwide representative platform of individuals who elect to participate in online surveys.
Data for this survey have been stratified by age, race, sex and geography using the National Center for Education Statistics 2014 Report to reflect the actual demographic composition of undergraduate students in the United States.
Because the sample is based on those who initially self-selected for participation rather than a probability sample, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All surveys may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sampling error, coverage error and measurement error.
However, a confidence interval of 95% was calculated in order to produce an error estimate of +/- 3.4% for the 800 respondents. This error estimate should be taken into consideration in much the same way that analysis of probability polls takes into account the margin of sampling error. The error estimate increases for cross-tabulations. Totals may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding.
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