Top Ivy Leagues score lowest in free speech

America’s Ivy League universities are among the worst in the country for those who seek free discourse, a freedom index published last week showed.

On Wednesday the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) published its annual free speech index which grades America’s colleges on their commitment to free speech. The rankings are based on a host of factors such as a school’s attitude towards students who disrupt the speech of others, the school’s own policies, and students’ perceptions of the administration’s tolerance toward a broad range of viewpoints. Also considered is how many times a school has supported or sanctioned controversial lecturers, speakers, students or student groups.

Michigan Technological University won top spot on the index out of 248 colleges with a score of 78.01. Though MTU was labeled as having a “Good Speech Climate” — 52% of students say they have rarely or never self-censored on campus — students have expressed discomfort at speaking their views. 

"I am a straight white male and was told that I did not understand what was being talked about when referring to underprivileged communities because I have never had to face struggles like other people,” said one student. “I did not feel there was any appropriate way to respond despite growing up in extreme poverty.”

Harvard University, on the other hand, ranked last place on the index with a score of zero. Speakers, scholars or students who express diverse ideas are often sanctioned by the university, and over 70% of students feel it is acceptable to shout down speech they do not find permissible. Only “39% of students say they are not worried about damaging their reputation because someone misunderstands something they have said or done.”

Students at Harvard describe being forced to introduce themselves using pronouns and being ostracized for stating an opinion. Some students report abstaining from posting to social media under their real names for fear of reprisal from other students.

"I often avoid posting controversial takes on social media tied to my name because I am afraid that they might be misconstrued by my classmates or admin,” said one Harvard student.

Others appeared to confirm that it is primarily the students, not the faculty or administration, who enforce ideological homogeneity:

Anything that would fall in the realm of 'cancelable' opinions I would feel substantial pause about expressing. I'd be most worried about the response of students than professors or administrators though.

. . . 

I felt uncomfortable speaking about the immorality of abortion, because it is the campus-wide view that killing an innocent human being is valid. I was ostracized in my class for saying so.

. . .

Despite having friends and a strong social support network on campus, I felt very alone. I am a moderate Republican, and even opinions I possess that are moderate or even left leaning on the national scale seem relatively unaccepted among the student body. It is an incredibly difficult and isolating political landscape to navigate for someone who is not left wing.

Harvard was closely preceded on the index by other Ivy League colleges such as Georgetown University (#245), Dartmouth College (#240), Yale University (#234), Columbia University (#214), and Cornell University (#212).

Six universities — Hillsdale College, Pepperdine University, Liberty University, Brigham Young University, and Saint Louis University — failed to make the list because their policies are openly non-committal to free speech. Instead, they were placed in a second index of “Warning Schools” and ranked in relation to each other.

The totalitarian culture on Ivy League campuses has caused alarm even among fugitives of tyrannical dictatorships like North Korea.

In March North Korean defector Yeonmi Park pointed out how Columbia students are "brainwashed” on a level similar to their North Korean counterparts.

When she first started at Columbia after escaping to the United States, Park was immediately taught about “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings,” and how White men are the cause of all problems. She was afraid of the social repercussions if she failed to use “preferred pronouns” correctly.

Park remembers being a young girl in North Korea and believing that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, was overworked and “starving” until she saw photos of the overweight dictator — but American students are so brainwashed no evidence can convince them, she says.

“In some ways they (in the US) are brainwashed. Even though there’s evidence so clearly in front of their eyes they can’t see it."

In March, Columbia University’s race-based student groups refused to recruit more minority students until the administration deleted a post about a meeting between Columbia law students and conservative Justice Bret Kavanaugh.