December 10 2024, NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Heterodox Academy (HxA), a non-partisan, non-profit organization committed to improving institutions of higher education by advocating principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement released a research report showing how student political orientation is associated with their comfort in discussing contentious issues in the classroom.

The report finds that, unexpectedly, left-leaning respondents are, on average across all ten controversial topics asked about, 6.2% more comfortable engaging in discussions on controversial topics compared to right-leaning students. But, this report is the first to show that the more strongly respondents described themselves as left or right-wing, the more comfortable they seem to be discussing controversial topics.

If only the most ideologically extreme students are willing to discuss controversial topics on campus, then the quality of discussion is likely to suffer. Extreme partisans may be more prone to confirmation bias, less open to considering alternative viewpoints, and more likely to engage in motivated reasoning, leading discussions to degenerate into echo chambers rather than genuine exchanges of ideas.

To foster a healthy campus climate, it may be necessary to find ways to dampen the negative effects that extreme ideological commitment has on discussion, and encourage the sharing of questions, ideas, and perspectives from more moderate students.

About the survey: The 2023 Campus Expression Survey (CES) asks undergraduate students at four-year colleges and universities in the US about different facets of their experience relevant to open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement. Heterodox Academy has been surveying students on topics of free expression and open inquiry since 2019.