A Third of Students Say Posting “MAGA” Is a Fireable Offense

Thirty percent of college students say that using violence to stop campus speech is acceptable at least in rare cases, according to a new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

It’s a slight decrease from a year ago, when a record-high 34 percent of students said the same, but it remains 12 points higher than in 2020, when 18 percent of students said violence was an acceptable response, at least in rare cases, to campus speech.

FIRE surveyed nearly 63,000 students at 262 colleges for its latest campus free speech report, which was released today—almost one year after the conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University. The report reflects slightly less polarized, but still concerning, student attitudes about campus free speech, the authors write. Fifty percent of students reported that blocking other students from attending a speech event is OK at least in rare cases, down from 54 percent last year, and 69 percent said the same about shouting down a speaker, compared to 72 percent a year prior.

“After seven years of surveying almost 350,000 college undergraduates nationwide, a sobering picture has emerged: students are reluctant to speak their minds, especially on controversial political issues,” the report states. “Many report that they self-censor regularly, avoid certain topics entirely, and doubt administrators would defend free expression if controversy struck.”

The student respondents, surveyed between January and June of this year, reported that conservative public figures are tough topics to discuss on campus; 46 percent said it’s “difficult to have an open and honest conversation about” Donald Trump, and 44 percent said the same about Kirk.

In the weeks after Kirk was killed, dozens of college professors and staff members were disciplined and in some cases fired for what they said about the political firebrand. Some of those firings have since been reversed, but FIRE asked students what online speech they believe amounts to a fireable offense.

About three in 10 students said a professor should “definitely” or “probably” be fired for posting “it’s OK to punch a Nazi” on social media in the wake of Kirk’s death, while 71 percent said the professor should “definitely” or “probably” not be fired. The next statement—“these fascist Bible-thumpers want to drag us back to the Dark Ages”—left students more evenly split; 47 percent said the statement would warrant termination, while 52 percent said it would not.

A third of students said a professor should definitely or probably be fired for posting Trump’s famous slogan “we’re going to make America great again” after Kirk’s death, and 42 percent of students said a professor should be fired for posting, “Our colleges and universities are progressive indoctrination centers.”

Tougher to talk about than Kirk, however, is the Israel-Palestine conflict; it was the most taboo discussion topic for the third year in a row, according to the report. Fifty percent of students said it is “difficult to have an open and honest conversation about” the conflict. Abortion also remained controversial—43 percent of students said it is difficult to discuss—as did immigration and transgender rights, which 38 percent of students labeled as difficult.

About four in 10 students said their campus should “definitely not allow” a speaker who says that “transgender people have a mental disorder,” and two in 10 said they definitely should not allow a speaker who says, “Children should be able to transition without parental consent.” Nearly half—47 percent—said their campus should definitely not allow a speaker who says, “Black Lives Matter is a hate group,” and 28 percent said speakers who say, “The police are just as racist as the Ku Klux Klan” or “abortion should be completely illegal” should definitely be disallowed.

Asked about their own speech, a third of students said they occasionally—once or twice a month—self-censor when talking to other students. About four in 10 students said they “never” or “rarely” self-censor during these conversations, while about a quarter said they self-censor a couple of times a week or nearly every day. In general, student respondents self-censored slightly more often when talking to professors and administrators and during class discussions.

Forty-three percent of students said they are “somewhat” or “very” uncomfortable expressing their views on controversial topics to their peers in person, while 62 percent said they are “somewhat” or “very” uncomfortable doing so on a social media account with their names attached. Most students—85 percent—have not been disciplined or threatened with discipline for their speech. Three percent said they had been disciplined, and 12 percent said they had been threatened with discipline.