Record number of US college students say violence is OK to stop controversial speakers

More than half of US college students say controversial speakers should be banned from their campuses, with a record-high number adding that violence is acceptable to stop them, a disturbing study shows.The results provide a dangerous and “sobering picture” of cancel culture on US campuses, according to the expansive six-year study of almost 300,000 college undergraduates nationwide by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.“The atmosphere isn’t just cautious — it’s hostile,” the study’s authors wrote.“Students continue to show low tolerance for controversial speakers, and troublingly, more believe it’s acceptable to shout down a speaker, block access to events, or even resort to violence to silence campus speech than ever before.”The surveyed students were given six controversial topics — three conservative and three liberal — and asked if someone should be allowed to speak on campus about those subjects, Only a quarter of the students last year said they would allow speakers to say transgender people have a mental disorder, which was down from roughly a third in 2024.The percentage of students who would “permit” speakers to say, “Black Lives Matter is a hate group” also fell from roughly one third to one quarter between 2024 and 2025, the data shows.Around 40% of students said speakers should be allowed to say, “Abortion should be completely illegal,” down from around 45% in the study.Controversial left-wing talking points, including calling the Catholic Church “a pedophilic institution,” describing the police as “just as racist” as the KKK and saying children “should be able to transition” without parental consent also saw decreasing tolerance among students between 2024 and 2025.The percentage of students who supported disruptive or even violent tactics to suppress controversial speakers meanwhile went up between 2021 and 2025.An astonishing 34% of students nationally believe violence is acceptable ...