College isn’t what it used to be, that’s for sure. Compared with a decade or two ago, it’s way more expensive and students are shunning liberal arts in favor of majors with more immediate and obvious relevance to jobs such as engineering or environmental science. And although long-ignored voices of people of color are finally more likely to be heard, college is overall less welcoming to widely differing opinions and raucous but respectful debate from various points along the political and social spectrum.
In recent years — especially during the Trump administration — sizable numbers of students began expressing an inability to cope with opinions they found objectionable. Feeling discomfited evolved into feeling threatened, and some student groups tried to stop speeches by provocative voices with which they disagree. There have been increasing complaints of self-censorship — students keeping silent because they’re afraid their opinions will be attacked, put down by professors or even subject them to retaliation on social media.
A new law in Florida, pushed through by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is likely to make the academic climate even less inviting. Though it would purportedly make campuses more open to a diversity of opinion, the law is likely to be used primarily as a tool for hunting down liberal professors, encouraging lawsuits and discouraging true freedom of expression.
