How does students’ reluctance to share their views about controversial topics on campus vary with institution type and geography? 

In this research brief, we joined data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) about the types and locations of institutions of higher education with our four years of CES data (collected from 2019-2022) to see what might be learned about the institutional and geographic scope of universities’ struggle to foster campuses where students can discuss controversial political and social topics.

Given the significant media focus devoted to the problem of campus expression at prestigious institutions of higher education, or those located in urban areas or politically liberal coastal cities, it is tempting to think that campus expression is more stifled in those places than elsewhere in the US. The data, however, suggest this is not correct.

We compiled data from 5,203 CES respondents collected between 2019-2022 to address the following questions about problems of campus expression:

• Are they worse at more “elite” institutions as compared to less “elite” ones?

• Are they more pronounced at research-intensive universities?

• Are they worse at institutions located in major urban centers or on the coasts?

• Do they look different at private versus public institutions of higher education?

• Do they depend on the size of an institution or the typical size of student classes?

Download the report below for details.