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The Brookings Institution has released survey results showing that many college students lack understanding of or support for the legal principles of the First Amendment. Among the findings:
- Students are more likely to believe that hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment than to believe it is protected (44 percent to 39 percent, with the remaining saying that they don't know).
- A slight majority (51 percent) of students believe that it is "acceptable" for students to repeatedly shout at a controversial speaker to prevent that person from being heard in a campus talk.
- Nineteen percent of students (and 30 percent of male students) said it would be acceptable for a student group to use violence to prevent a controversial speaker from speaking.
- A large majority of students (62 percent) said that when bringing a controversial speaker to campus, a student group is legally required to also have a speaker with an opposing view.
While students who identify as Democrats were more likely than those who identify as Republicans to take positions counter to First Amendment principles, many Republicans took such positions as well. For example, 39 percent of Republican-identified students said that the First Amendment does not protect hate speech.
Gallup and the Knight Foundation released survey results last year showing that students say they support the First Amendment but in many cases have positions that run counter to its principles.
