Perhaps no sphere of society has become more vulnerable to “groupthink” than the modern American university. Concerns about free speech rights have long circled the discourse over the last couple of years, with cancel culture coming for everyone who even hints at heterodox viewpoints.

Rikki Schlott, a writer for the New York Post, recently wrote a report on how some professors at Harvard University, the most prestigious academic institution in the United States, feel hemmed in by the prevailing campus consensus. At a place where the quest for truth is engraved on its founding banner, academics no longer feel comfortable doing just that: professing what they take to be different reflections on what counts as the truth.

Schlott writes,

Harvard is the nation’s premier university and produces a disproportionate number of our leaders. It’s expected to set an example and be a bastion of discourse and debate — with its professors boldly leading the way.

But a survey published by the university’s own Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group found a solid majority of profs now avoid touchy topics both inside and outside of the classroom, after things boiled over in the last year with campus protests related to the war in Gaza.

Particularly after October 7th, 2023, when members of Hamas raided Israel and took dozens of hostages, the elite college campus has become a breeding ground of activistic fury. Those with alternative viewpoints feel like they’re walking on egg shells.

With teachers becoming more nervous about discussing controversial topics in the classroom, students will no longer be challenged to wrestle with a range of different perspectives. This may be the chief issue with the “education as activism” model. It encourages students to think one-sidedly, through an ideological pigeon hole, about the world around them.

For these professors at Harvard, though, the cost of honesty and open debate is high. They could lose their jobs, be denied tenure, or suffer ridicule and pushback from students or colleagues. Schlott continues,

Harvard was ranked dead last in FIRE’s most recent campus free speech rankings, based on student and faculty polling, the number of professors targeted for their speech, and a variety of other factors.

Their survey found that the issues Harvard students are most worried about discussing are… precisely the most pressing issues in our culture and politics today.

67% were scared to discuss Israel, 42% affirmative action, 36% free speech, 36% police misconduct, 34% racial inequality, 31% religion, and 30% abortion.

For a college responsible for producing many of the world’s future leaders in politics, business, and academia, this is a concerning report. While the new president, Alan M. Garber, said the campus should invite lively debate, it still struggles to actually empower free speech.