Here is a very interesting ranking based on how students rate their own schools as to the climate of free speech on campus:
https://reports.collegepulse.com/college-free-speech-rankings
The methodology asks students to self-identify as liberal or conservative and then breaks down the evaluations of each school as between liberal students, conservative students, and all students. The overall score of the U of C (64.19) was far above that of its nearest competitor (57.31). The score awarded by liberal-identifying students (63.1) was similarly far ahead of competition. But even conservative students (a surprisingly small percentage at a school that is supposed to be conservative-friendly, only 11 percent) awarded their school a score of 59.92, making it third by a small margin to two schools with much more conservative student bodies (Kansas State and Texas A&M).
Those are for me very heartening figures in that they indicate that (a) liberal students, who are in the vast majority at Chicago, nevertheless are largely supportive of free speech, and (b) conservative students, who are in a distinct minority, nevertheless feel that they too have the right to speak. This result bucks the general trend under which students of the majority political orientation tend to detect free speech on campus (because the speech is generally simpatico with their own) and students in the minority do not feel that it flourishes because they cannot be heard.
Interestingly, Harvard, at the bottom of the rankings with an overall score of 46 of 55 institutions ranked, actually has a larger number of conservative students than Chicago (15 percent as against 11 percent), but neither its liberal nor its conservative students rank it highly. That is something to remember the next time we are told there is not much cultural difference among the elite institutions.
The piece goes on to say this:
"The University of Chicago has a long history of dedication to establishing freedom of expression as a central element of its campus culture. [A brief summary follows.] Now the verdict from students is finally in, too: not only is the University of Chicago the top-ranked college overall for freedom of speech, but also the top-ranked college for Liberals and the third-ranked college for Conservatives.
According to University of Chicago students, the administration’s support for freedom of speech is clear, as 92% of them say that the administration would more likely defend a speaker’s rights than punish the speaker during a free-speech controversy, and 88% say the administration makes it clear that free speech is protected on campus. This clearly perceived administrative support for freedom of speech may be part of the reason why fewer than half of students report self-censoring on campus. It may also be why controversial speakers are more welcome at the University of Chicago than at any other college in the rankings. Overall, four of the controversial speakers in the survey received support for being allowed to speak on campus from a majority of the students, twice as many speakers as at any other college. Students overall also feel quite comfortable discussing controversial political topics with each other, as 75 percent of them said they were either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ comfortable doing."
The report does point out some concerning developments and imperfections, including the Evita Duffy “whiteboard” affair from the Spring, which was the subject of a prior thread. However, it is overall heartening that students themselves, both liberal and conservative - and not merely the administration and faculty - see free speech as an important defining characteristic of this university. One would hope that it is one of the attractions of the place and a source of the cultural difference that some of us are forever pointing out.