In April 2022, the Florida Board of Governors distributed its “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” survey to students and faculty at Florida’s public colleges and universities.
Supporters argue that the survey is a necessary and legitimate way to foster intellectual diversity and prevent conservative viewpoints from being unfairly targeted, but detractors worry that the survey is political in nature and will be used to suppress free speech and academic freedom.
But this simple differentiation between conservative and liberal students obscures an important facet of political ideology: engagement.
Political engagement on college campuses varies widely. Some students are highly engaged, while others never think about politics. It seems likely that engaged students would behave differently than non-engaged students and that these two groups would feel differently about expressing themselves on campus.
At first glance, significant differences exist between liberal and conservative students’ comfort in expressing themselves. College Pulses’ 2022 College Free Speech Survey found that 13% of liberal students often felt that they could not express an opinion because of how students, professors, or their university administration would respond, while 42% of conservative students said the same. Similarly, a majority of surveyed students identified as “left of center” (53%), while only 20% identified as “right of center.” These findings are replicated in other surveys of U.S. college students.
Things change, however, when accounting for engagement. A recent analysis by the DeVoe L. Moore Center found that students whose ideologies are more important to their identities were more comfortable expressing themselves on campus, regardless of whether they were liberal or conservative.
Although, in the aggregate, conservative students are less likely to feel comfortable expressing themselves than liberal students, the data suggest that a politically engaged conservative would likely feel more comfortable doing so than a non-engaged liberal. But even among less engaged students, conservatives are less comfortable than their liberal peers. Thus, focusing on a liberal vs. conservative divide provides an incomplete view of students’ behavior.
While most media attention focuses on partisan extremes on either side, the moderate, less engaged students are likely the most affected based on my research. These students are more likely to report feeling uncomfortable expressing themselves than their politically engaged counterparts.
Future surveys and policies addressing intellectual diversity should focus on these issues of engagement and conviction.
Instead of focusing solely on the most extreme partisans on each campus who—the data show—are comfortable expressing themselves, more attention should be given to less engaged students from both sides of the aisle. Supporting these moderate students is key to creating a culture of civility and respect for viewpoint diversity on college campuses.
Eli McKown-Dawson is a research assistant in the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University where he is double majoring in Political Science and Philosophy with a minor in Statistics. He is also a Fellow with FSU’s Institute of Politics and director of the Student Council for Undergraduate Research and Creativity.
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