Ithaca College is well-known as a liberal leaning space — it was ranked as #22 in Princeton Review’s list of “Most Liberal Leaning Students.” This does not mean that we should discourage academic discourse that includes conservative voices. In fact, the opposite is necessary. When students are constantly hearing the same ideas or talking points, this means that they are existing in an echo chamber that narrows their viewpoint of the world.
The fact that The Ithacan could not find conservative students to speak to regarding the election process on this campus for this election issue does not mean that conservative students do not exist: instead, it points to a pattern that is dangerous in any political context, which is a reluctance to divest from group patterns of thinking because of the fear of retaliation. This is also true for many people who hold leftist ideas, although those are often more welcome on college campuses.
Classrooms are spaces for conversation. Think about the voices you are not hearing — question why those voices feel like they do not have a place in the conversation. Speaking up can feel like a dangerous endeavor, but there is no better place than a college campus to test your personal thoughts and learn about the world. Without experimentation, we cannot return to spaces of comfort and understanding.
The lack of political diversity on this campus has been pointed to as a potential perk for students: like draws to like. But it also creates a funnel of like-minded ideas that may never force students to explain, defend or further research their political and social positions. It creates an environment where hostility toward those in the minority opinion is often celebrated and normalized, which does not further civil dialogue. Rather than shutting down ideas that do not match with your own, students must pay attention to the differences in opinion and allow for them to be heard. Without this, no one learns. No one has the opportunity to have their views challenged.
According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, students’ concerns about self-censorship have declined — 17% of students surveyed in 2024 said they were afraid to speak their mind because of responses from peers, faculty and administration, compared to 22% in 2022. But conservative students expressed the highest rates of self-censorship, with 34% stating that they self-censored “very often” in comparison to 15% of liberal students.
However, censorship of other peoples’ voices have increased on college campuses. Also according to FIRE data from the same report released in September, 68% of students said that intimidating a speaker into stopping their speech, also known as the “heckler’s veto,” should occasionally be allowed. The use of violence to stop political speech on campus was considered “rarely acceptable” by 32% of students, which is a significant increase from the previous 2024 report. As well, 54% of students polled said discussion of the Israel-Hamas conflict is often difficult, which is also reflected in the increased international attention surrounding students’ response to the conflict.
These statistics show a concerning rise in practices that inhibit free speech on college campuses across the U.S., and an increasingly tumultuous climate in relation to political speech on campuses.
Hot button issues often lead to a silencing of campus voices in favor of one seemingly united ideology. If the college is truly a place that wants to facilitate learning and open conversation, the attitudes of students regarding each others’ political stances must lose their rigid partisanship and burning polarity. If an opinion is more prevalent, that does not mean it is the correct one. If an opinion stands out in a crowd of similar voices, that also does not make it revolutionary. But if an opinion is never heard at all, it cannot be considered and will not create an opportunity for growth.
