Lake Ingle, a college student at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania was asked to leave class for challenging his professor. Dr. Allison Downie removed him from class, then proceeded to go on a crusade of barring the student because he refused to apologize for making remarks about biology and the gender wage gap.
Dr.Downie said that Ingle would be able to return to class on the condition that he apologize to the rest of the class, and refrain from speaking while students in the class expressed their dissent of his comments. Ingle refused the terms of the agreement, and Downie attempted to permanently bar him from class by reporting him to the Academic Integrity Board.
This incident is one of many that has shown that free speech is under attack on college campuses. More than 6 in 10 college students say their campus climate is too hostile for free speech. This is an alarming trend because colleges should be encouraging the intellectual discourse of opposing ideas.
The absence of free dialogue, has caused many students to avoid challenging professors viewpoints. It was once considered a noble endeavor to challenge one intellectually, instead professors have resorted to fascistic tendencies to prevent students from standing up for themselves. Conservative and libertarians students have to tread lightly when expressing themselves, because professors with a dissenting bias may unfairly grade them.
A Gallup poll revealed that 92 percent of students believed that liberals were able to express their views. While only 69 percent of students felt conservatives could freely express their views. Students are afraid of challenging the status quo in their classrooms because they face similar consequences of those at Indiana, University of Pennsylvania. If students are not encouraged to think for themselves, are they actually being encouraged to learn or are they being indoctrinated?
It’s clear that some colleges are barring students from having civil discussions over their ideas. These types of incidents must continue to be spotlighted, and professors must be held accountable for trying to shut out the opinions of their students. If they are not put in check they will continue to impose their ideologies on their students, and not actually teach them. As shown at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, there are professors like Dr. Allison Downie that will resort to authoritarian methods against their students.
This should be of great concern to students and professors alike. Colleges were once the paragon for liberty, and students had the freedom to express themselves. If students are fearful of standing up for themselves there will be no progress on ideas. Professors will continue shun out opposing ideas and students will not learn, but be indoctrinated.
We must bring back the values of liberty on college campuses. Students can not be afraid to express themselves.
