Saying that students embrace censorship on college campuses is incorrect -- here's how to discuss the issue more constructively

It's not true that college students reject challenging ideas wholesale and oppose conservative views. SDI Productions/E+/Getty Images

The claim that college students censor viewpoints with which they disagree is now common. Versions of this claim include the falsehoods that students “shut down” most invited speakers to campuses, reject challenging ideas and oppose conservative views.

Such cynical distortions dominate discussions of higher education today, misinform the public and threaten both democracy and higher education.