Students Back Violence to Stop Speech

FIRE’s 2025 survey with College Pulse reports that 34% of U.S. college students say it is acceptable in some cases to use violence to stop a campus speech. Two‑thirds endorse shouting down speakers to prevent them from being heard, and more than half say physically blocking entry can be permissible. FIRE says these attitudes have worsened over six years of tracking. — Normalization of coercive tactics against speech on campuses signals erosion of free‑expression norms central to higher education and liberal democracy.