Majority of college students favor reporting professors for 'offensive' opinions: poll

Both conservative and liberal college students believe they should report a professor if they say something they find offensive, according to a survey from the Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth at North Dakota State University exclusively shared with The Hill Wednesday.

Overall, 74 percent of all students say professors should be reported for saying something found offensive, while 26 percent disagree. 

Eighty-one percent of liberal students and 53 percent of conservative ones agree with reporting the professor, according to the survey. 

One section of the survey gave statements to test which opinions students might believe a professor should be reported.

It found 40 percent of all students believe a professor should be reported if they say “there is no evidence of anti-black bias in police shootings.”

Thirty-four percent of students say professors can be reported for saying COVID-19 vaccination requirements are “an assault on individual freedom,” and 27 percent believe in reporting a professor if they say “biological sex is a scientific fact. There are two sexes, male and female.”

Conservative students are more likely to want to report a teacher if they say not getting the COVID-19 vaccine is irresponsible, there are more than two sexes or the U.S. has a problem with “racist police” who shoot “unarmed black men."

“What I found alarming was students’ willingness to report professors for stating opinions or facts. This year’s survey clarified that they aren't talking about hate speech or harassment. An astounding 65 percent are in favor of reporting professors for stating opinions or facts about affirmative action, police shootings, vaccines, guns, and gender,” said John Bitzan, author of the survey. 

These results are similar to last year’s survey, where 85 percent of liberal students and 56 percent of conservative students believed in reporting professors for saying something they disagree with. 

This year's poll was conducted between May 11 and June 2, surveying 2,250 college students. It listed a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

According to a recent Gallup poll, confidence in higher education is at 59 percent among Democrats but only 19 percent among Republicans.