70% of students surveyed by ACTA believe professors who make comments that some students find offensive should be reported to the university.
ACTA’s survey found that a strong majority of students say they cannot express their opinions at least occasionally because of how others might respond. At the same time, over 40% of students think it is at least sometimes acceptable to shout down or prevent a person from speaking on campus. Many students want more political diversity among Pitt’s faculty. The university’s strategic plan includes promoting the “free exchange of ideas,” but its own Progress Card shows it does not have a measurable target for this goal in mind.
The University of Pittsburgh can become a place where students and faculty share their ideas freely if the university works to meet the standards outlined in ACTA’s Gold Standard for Freedom of ExpressionTM. The university can start by educating its students about the importance of free expression and adopting three policies developed at the University of Chicago:
1. The Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression, which state that everyone at a university should have the freedom to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn.
2. The Kalven Report, which holds that a university must not take sides on social and political issues because doing so chills the free expression of individuals on campus.
3. The Shils Report, which explains that universities should hire and promote the best people for teaching and research regardless of their political views.
By adopting these policies—and by creating and implementing other ACTA Gold Standard policies to bolster viewpoint diversity among both students and faculty—Pitt can improve education for its students and infuse its Cathedral of Learning with a true spirit of free and open inquiry.
Based on the responses of 482 undergraduate students collected from May to August 2024, the following report from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) and College Pulse shows that Pitt students are highly inclined to self-censorship. Students also express troubling levels of intolerance for different points of view. These problems often become measurably worse from freshman year to senior year.
View Survey Results65
%of students report self-censoring, fearful of the reactions of fellow students.
70
%of students believe professors who say something they find offensive should be reported.
80
%of students report receiving no training on free expression policies from staff or faculty.
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