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FIREFellow presenting at Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual conference
Tomorrow, as part of FIRE鈥檚 Speech, Outreach, Advocacy, and Research (SOAR) project, I will be presenting a poster at the annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Kelsey Naughton, 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 data analyst and report writer, is coauthor on the poster. Our poster, which delves into a recent FIREstudy on student appreciation for free speech on campus, is titled 鈥淭aking a Bite Out of the Free Speech Apple: College 果冻传媒app官方鈥 Attitudes Toward Disinvitation of Campus Speakers.鈥
Using data from 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 recent 鈥楽peaking Freely鈥 survey of 1250 college students, we investigated whether students鈥 college experience goals and political ideology correlated with their views regarding rescinding invitations to campus speakers. FIREwho self-identified as liberal were significantly more likely to think it is okay for their college or university to rescind a speaking invitation after the event has been announced. These 鈥disinvitations鈥 happen to speakers from across the political spectrum, although right-wing speakers are more frequently disinvited than left-wing speakers, which may in part explain why liberal students, whose preferred speakers are less apt to be disinvited, would be more comfortable endorsing the practice.
Although 93 percent of the students completing our poll agreed or strongly agreed that 鈥淢y college or university should invite speakers with a variety of ideas and opinions to campus, including speakers whose perspectives are very different from my own,鈥 56 percent of the students agreed or strongly agreed that 鈥淭here are times when my college or university should tell a guest speaker s/he is no longer invited to speak at the school, even after the event has been announced.鈥 Although some identified safety concerns as a reason to disinvite, others endorsed ideological reasons to disinvite speakers. Sometimes disinvitations occur because administrators do not want a particular speaker on campus, but increasingly, disinvitations occur because of administrators conceding to student-led efforts to cancel speakers. In recent years, both disinvitation attempts and actual disinvitations have become more common.
We also examined how students鈥 most valued and least valued goals for their college experience correlated with their attitudes toward disinvitation. As part of the 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 鈥楽peaking Freely鈥 survey, students chose their three most important and their three least important goals from a list of fifteen common goals for their college experience. Identifying 鈥淏elonging to a campus community where may values are shared鈥 as one of their three most important college experience goals correlated positively with approval for disinvitation occurring at one鈥檚 school. Identifying 鈥淟earning how to gather and thoughtfully use evidence to support my ideas鈥 as one of their three least important college experience goals also correlated positively with approval for disinvitation occurring at one鈥檚 school.
However, identifying 鈥淏etter understanding how to value diversity鈥 as one of their least important college experience goals correlated negatively with approval of disinvitation occurring at one鈥檚 school. In other words, not valuing understanding diversity correlated positively with disapproving of disinvitations. Understanding how student values and goals intersect with attitudes toward disinvitation may be useful for building productive dialogue regarding disinvitation with students, faculty, and administrators. The data for the poll was collected online by YouGov.
It is a privilege to present a poster at the SPSP annual conference this year, if you are at the conference tomorrow please feel free to stop by and say hello!
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