Utah Rep. Owens: College campuses fostering cultures of 'fear, bullying and cowardice'

WASHINGTON — Protecting free expression is essential on America's college campuses — not only for educating students, but also for the strengthening of the nation.

That pitch for free speech in higher education anchored Utah Rep. Burgess Owens' message at Wednesday's congressional hearing focusing on the future of the First Amendment in postsecondary schools.

College campuses should be cultivators of respectful "intellectual diversity" — exposing students to ideas that they might not always agree with, said the Republican lawmaker, who chairs the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee.

"This mission," he added, "is becoming a matter of urgency as students report increased intolerance to views that differ from their own."

To begin Wednesday's hearing, Owens cited polling from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, reporting that 59% of college students frequently self-censor around their peers.

Meanwhile, more than 71% believe it's acceptable to "shout down" speakers to stop someone from speaking on campus — while 54% would accept blocking other students from attempting to attend a campus speech.

"And 34% believe using violence (at least in rare cases) to stop a speech is justified," he said.

"We are creating a culture that accepts fear, bullying and cowardice as a culture — versus a bold confidence and debate of ideas."

Such trends of intolerance have "serious implications" for higher education and the country, stated Owens, pointing to last weekend's assassination attempt of President Donald Trump and last fall's murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.

America's college students in both public and private schools, he noted, have free speech rights that must be protected.

Additionally, public universities must protect other First Amendment freedoms such as freedom of assembly and freedom from religious persecution.

"Yet these protections are not always upheld," said Owens. "Students in certain religious, political and single-sex organizations are under attack — sometimes, unfortunately, by the same institutions whose mandate is to protect them."

Veteran lawmaker: Find balance in free speech efforts

The subcommittee's ranking member, Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., noted the complexity of the day's hearing.

Most lawmakers likely support assertions that all students are entitled to their First Amendment and civil rights protections, she said. The First Amendment protects speech from government interference.

"But it is not absolute," Adams said. "The courts have made clear that certain narrow categories of speech — like obscenity, defamation and fighting words — be restricted."

And higher education institutions also have the legal obligations to ensure that students are not subjected to unlawful discrimination or hostile learning environments.

So balance is required in applying free expression and free opportunity, said Adams, while arguing that a "free speech crisis" on college campuses is not a systemic problem warranting congressional action.

"What's more troubling is the inconsistency," she said. "So if the concern is truly about viewpoint diversity — then we should protect all viewpoints, not just those that align with a particular political agenda.

"Yet many of the same voices raising these concerns have supported efforts to restrict what can be taught and discussed on campus, particularly regarding diversity, equity and inclusion."

Adams added there have been attempts to ban courses, limit classroom discussion about race and inequality, and penalize institutions for "engaging in work that reflects the diversity of their students."

Diverse voices regarding colleges and the First Amendment

Wednesday's "Free Speech on Campus" hearing included several witnesses from a variety of higher education fields speaking on First Amendment challenges on college campuses.

Tyson Langhofer from the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom said the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear the importance of college campuses being venues where free, unfettered interplay of competing views are protected.

"Now, unfortunately, most public universities are actively violating these freedoms," said Langhofer.

Some schools, he noted, adopt policies censoring student speech by restricting such debates to small zones in outdoor areas of campus — or by adopting policies that punish speech that the school or other students subjectively label demeaning or uncivil.

"These policies are most commonly enforced against conservative and religious students to shut down speech that others disagree with," said Langhofer in his testimony.

Jud Horras, the president of North American Interfraternity Conference, testified that universities such as Harvard single out single-sex organizations such as college male fraternities. Such actions, he said, violate freedom of association on college campuses.

Emerson Sykes of the American Civil Liberties Union echoed Langhofer's assertion that the country's highest court has recognized the essentiality of freedom in America's college campuses.

"We've seen free speech and academic freedom rights challenged on college campuses across the country," Sykes testified. "While the details of campus speech jurisprudence can get murky, one thing is clear: the government cannot censor students, instructors or even visitors just because the government doesn't like the ideas they express."

The principle of viewpoint neutrality when regulating campus speech, he added, is paramount.

In recent years, said Sykes, there have been "unprecedented efforts" by state and federal officials to regulate what ideas can be taught in public colleges.

"Traditionally, academic freedom has served to protect individual professors from censorship, as well as to protect the university from interference by courts and the political branches of government," he said. "This traditional understanding of academic freedom is under severe threat from all sides."

Read the full story at Deseret News.

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