A recent study reveals that over half of college students in the U.S. believe controversial speakers should be banned from their campuses, with a concerning rise in the number who find violence an acceptable means to halt such speakers.
This alarming trend paints a stark picture of cancel culture in American universities, based on an extensive six-year survey involving nearly 300,000 undergraduates conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
The authors of the study highlighted a significant shift, stating, “The environment isn’t simply cautious; it’s become hostile.” They noted that students’ tolerance for speakers with differing viewpoints is significantly low, and worrisomely, more are inclined to use tactics like shouting down, blocking events, or even violence to silence opposing opinions.
Participants were presented with six contentious topics—three aligned with conservative views and three with liberal. When asked if speakers should be allowed to discuss these subjects, only 25% last year felt comfortable allowing a talk that claimed transgender individuals have a mental disorder, a decline from nearly one-third in 2024.
Similarly, support for allowing speakers to state that “Black Lives Matter is a hate group” dropped from about 33% to 25%. Furthermore, the percentage of students who agreed that speakers could argue “Abortion should be completely illegal” decreased from roughly 45% to around 40%.
Interestingly, the proportion of students who believe disruptive or violent actions are justified to suppress controversial speakers has risen from 20% in 2022 to an astonishing 34% in 2025. Additionally, more than half (54%) of those surveyed supported blocking speech events, while 71% advocated for shouting down speakers they disagreed with.
The study identified Massachusetts as having the highest concentration of intolerant campuses. Notably, conservative perspectives face the most opposition, with liberal arts colleges leading in terms of students supporting bans on conservative views. Mount Holyoke College emerged as particularly intolerant, with over 80% of students favoring the prohibition of all three controversial topics.
Following Mount Holyoke were Smith and Wellesley Colleges, where 79.6% and 75.5% of students, respectively, supported barring those opinions. Other institutions on the list included Occidental College and the University of Rochester, reflecting a broader trend of resistance to conservative viewpoints across various campuses.
On the more tolerant side, Michigan Tech reported the lowest support for banning conservative topics at only 26.2%, closely trailed by Kansas State and Montana State. Ivy League schools like Princeton, Stanford, and Harvard featured among the most tolerant institutions alongside others like the University of Wyoming and Iowa State.
As one might expect, the study also found that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stood out as the most contentious issue in 2025, with 53% of students indicating it was difficult to discuss. Abortion followed closely at 46%, while topics like the 2024 presidential election, transgender rights, and racial inequality also posed challenges for student discussions.
“Students are hesitant to voice their opinions, particularly on divisive political topics,” the researchers concluded. “Many engage in self-censorship, avoid specific discussions altogether, and express doubts about whether administrators would defend free expression in contentious situations.”
