Villanova, Notre Dame, UNC Chapel Hill Free Speech Climate

[thumper1]

@LaFinalista

Namely, students can’t say hateful things under the guise of “free” speech. There will (and should ) be consequences for that.

This.

[collegemom3717]

@doublestuff55

We have heard experiences of professors who lower grades of well researched and articulated issues, on the grounds that they personally feel so opposite of the ideas so they levy a C for A work.

I have taught at several universities, and been on appeals panels. Nobody can say that nobody has every gotten a C for A work- profs are as varied as any other group of humans, and there are bad apples in every bunch- but I haven’t seen anything that egregious, nor have any of my collegekids reported anything similar. On the appeals panel I never saw a difference of more than plus/minus.

IME, students whose essay grade is dramatically lower than they expected* most often have missed some element(s) of the grading rubric. They might have written a good- even great- essay, but if they don’t meet the specified requirements they will get marked down.

*after the first round or two of essays- first year students who are used to As in secondary school sometimes discover that the expectations are higher at third level. We tried to head that off by encouraging first year students to take their first essays to the writing center / bring to office hours / bring to TAs to get feedback, but unsurprisingly that didn’t always happen!

[dgf28]

I think the premise of this thread is great whether you lean right or left. Unfortunately, asking for anecdotal evidence is probably a little tough based on perceptions of posters who may see things differently and have different backgrounds. I think you may be better off in asking questions when touring campus and taking information in context. The IVY league schools are considered liberal but they have produced all but one of the current conservative supreme court justices. The other was from Notre Dame. The schools you list are in high demand for all students and they welcome diverse view points. Any professor leaning one way or another will undoubtedly challenge your child to be a better free thinker.

The only thing I can say for sure is don’t rely on Twitter for anecdotes, it is terribly toxic.

[ProfSD]

@collegemom3717

IME, students whose essay grade is dramatically lower than they expected* most often have missed some element(s) of the grading rubric. They might have written a good- even great- essay, but if they don’t meet the specified requirements they will get marked down.

*after the first round or two of essays- first year students who are used to As in secondary school sometimes discover that the expectations are higher at third level. We tried to head that off by encouraging first year students to take their first essays to the writing center / bring to office hours / bring to TAs to get feedback, but unsurprisingly that didn’t always happen!

Exactly! Students often overlook the most likely reason they did not earn a high grade: the quality of their work. But instead of owning this and asking how to improve their performance on future assignments, they assume the professor is “out to get them” or doesn’t like their personal politics or topic choice. In these cases, “personal experience” is flawed because it’s based on the assumption of a student who believes they deserved a higher grade and simply suspects it’s due to something other than their actual work. Lack of concrete evidence is dismissed.

[Sweetgum]

@1dadinNC

UNC – have a kid there. Very free. However, the board is full of old white Southerners that basically forced the last chancellor to resign because of her stance on silent Sam. Faculty and board do not see eye to eye.

Agree. I don’t know how it is at public university systems in other states, but in North Carolina the UNC system is under the UNC Board of Governors which is a political appointment. Leadership and Governance – UNC System

[DramaMama2021]

For the most accurate information, I suggest your kid ask the AO to connect them with a current student. Depending on an applicant’s concerns, this could be…

• A member of the LGBTQ+ club
• A member of College Republicans/Democrats
• A member of the DEI council
• A member of the Hillel
• A member of Campus Ministries, Baptist Student Union, etc.

You get the idea. My D found that AOs were more than happy to make those introductions, and she found that students were very forthcoming with presenting both the good and the bad.

[QuarterPounder]

UNC is public, ND and Nova are private so better shot to sue UNC for violating 1A so theres that,