With the coming of a new academic semester, campus culture wars are sure to heat up again — and could be made more intense by the Trump administration's anticipated actions. Questions about whether commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion are quenching free speech will be at the heart of those disputes.  

The Jan. 8 report of the American Association of University Professors and the American Association of Colleges and Universities on the state of academic freedom and civil discourse in America’s colleges and universities is sure to stir things up. 

Among its top-line findings are that “More than one out of three faculty report that they feel more constrained, compared with six and seven years ago, in their ability to speak freely.” In addition, “nearly one quarter of faculty think that students express their political beliefs less often in course discussions." 

Adding to this picture, Harvard University reported last fall that 45 percent of the undergraduates it sampled said “that they are reluctant to share their views about charged topics in class. Thirty-eight percent … reported that they are uncomfortable discussing such issues outside of the classroom.” Some people who expressed such reluctance specifically cited Harvard’s “discrimination, harassment, and bullying policies as a source of concern.”

Students, Harvard noted, “worried that classroom debates could trigger complaints and investigations; consequently, they choose to self-censor. ... Instructors reported special concerns.”

All of these findings are troubling, but I worry they will be misused in the ongoing war on American higher education. Critics will latch on to them as fresh ammunition, charging they offer new proof that colleges and universities have become hotbeds of stifling political........

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