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If someone tries to tell you there are “no” freedom of speech issue on campus, do not believe them. Speaking your mind on campus and in class can put your education or career at risk. It’s a serious problem but it’s only one of three.
The other two are the lack of viewpoint diversity and the loss of intellectual humility at our educational institutions. At the SAPEINT Being, we’re prepared to address all three!
Consider these disturbing trends:
A recent study found that 68 percent of college students “largely agree” the campus climate today prevents some of them from speaking their minds for fear of offending someone.
In a 2016 Gallup survey, one in four college students felt their schools should be able to restrict students from “expressing political views that are upsetting or offensive to certain groups.”
Shockingly, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE, for short) rated the level of freedom of speech permitted at 466 major universities in America. They found that 28 percent received a “red light’ rating, 62 percent a “yellow light” rating, and only 10 percent received a “green light” rating.
Regarding the lack of viewpoint diversity needed to burst the prevailing ideological bubbles on campus, consider these alarming statistics:
More than 50 percent of students surveyed reported that they do not think their college frequently encourages students to consider a wide variety of viewpoints and perspectives.
UCLA’s Higher Education Institute shows that the faculty has moved considerably leftward since the late 1980s, especially in the Arts and Humanities. In New England alone, liberal professors outnumber conservative ones by an astonishing ratio of 28:1.
A large student and faculty sampling by the American Association of Colleges and Universities reported only 18 percent of the faculty and staff strongly agreed that it was “safe to hold unpopular positions on campus.”
And the third major concern is a lack of intellectual humility from students, administrators, and faculty. Consider these examples:
The first is the rise of Intolerance: Since 2000, the FIRE has recorded 379 instances of disinvitations, with nearly a quarter of those occurring between 2016 to 2018. In those two years, 82 percent of these disinvitations have been because of the Left’s doing.
The second is the lack of Constructive Disagreement: The concept centers around creating a dynamic where key stakeholders in the faculty and student body are compelled to disagree. The word “constructive” alludes to the need to raise issues, debate, and resolve them reasonably. In the academy, this rarely happens--but it does so in the corporate world—successfully.
And the third concerns the prevalence of Confirmation Bias: The 2008 paper, “Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science” describes the replication failure rate being as high as one-half to two-thirds of 100 sampled experiments published in 2008 in three high-ranking psychology journals.
All of these facts, figures, and trends reveal a failing report card for sapience! Together, we can raise the grade and that is what the SAPIENT Being intends to do by developing intellectual humility, spreading viewpoint diversity, and enhancing freedom of speech on campus. From all three of these virtues, we create a foundation of sapience.
More than ever, we need all three—viewpoint diversity, intellectual humility and freedom of speech for sapience to flourish and to reach a higher state of being.
Are you a sapient being? Interested in being one? Want to learn more? Please let us know or read on with our free book offer on Wednesday, April 22, 2020. For a teaser of content matter, the table of contents is below.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1 - Freedom of Speech Madness & Viewpoint Suppression 2 - How Did Freedom of Speech Suppression Happen? 3 - Illiberalism & Campus Ideological Battlegrounds 4 - Make Free Speech Again on Campus Campaign 5 - Viewpoint Diversity, Intellectual Humility & Sapience 6 - Civil Debate, Discourse & Critical Thinking 7 - Liberals Rule 8 - Conservatives Rising 9 - Independents Uncertainty 10 - Academic Intellectual Diversity & Freedom of Expression 11 - Progressivism: Marxism Lite for Campus Radicals? 12 - The Leftist Roots of Campus Rage 13 - Millennials Coddling & Socialism Madness 14 - Civics Illiteracy vs. Freedom of Speech 15 - Become a Sapient Being: Start Now!
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