Regent free speech survey nets improved student, employee feedback

AMES — A growing percent of students across Iowa’s public universities feel comfortable expressing their opinions on and off campus, in and out of class, and even on social media — according to a second free speech survey Iowa’s Board of Regents administered earlier this year, just over two years after ordering its first following a string of campus incidents that drew intense criticism from Republican lawmakers.

Like the students, university employees who responded to this survey administered from Jan. 31 to March 1, 2024 reported similar increases in positive free-speech feelings — compared with the first survey conducted between Nov. 9 and Dec. 1, 2021.

Fewer faculty were, however, willing to “strongly agree” with statements like, “I feel comfortable expressing my opinions when I am at work.” Rather, 40 percent of employee respondents “somewhat” agreed with that statement — above the 32 percent who “strongly” agreed.

Overall, a larger percent of students and employees this year either strongly or somewhat agreed with free-speech positive statements than in 2021 — with the percent of students who agreed higher than the percent of employees.

For example, where 64 percent of students reported feeling comfortable expressing their opinions on social media, a minority 48 percent of employee respondents said they did — with 28 percent “strongly” disagreeing with that statement.

And the total response rate to the emailed survey, especially among students, was down this year from 2021 — with 7.5 percent of the 63,645 possible students responding this year, or 4,748. In 2021, 7,062 students responded — amounting to 10 percent of that year’s possible 69,459.

“The vast majority (87 percent) of students agreed that they felt comfortable expressing their opinions related to things they were studying in class,” according to a regents report on the 2024 results. “Agreement with that statement increased by nearly 10 percentage points from 2021 to 2024.”

'Not who we are’

Addressing free speech across its public universities became a pressing concern for the regents in 2020 after news of speech-suppressing incidents on each campus made its way to the State Capitol, where Republican lawmakers slammed the institutions and called the university presidents to Des Moines for answers.

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In response, regents President Michael Richards in November 2020 issued a statement affirming, “Everyone has the right to express their own opinion.”

“Disagreeing on issues and having a respectful debate about those issues should happen on our university campuses,” he said. “What should not happen is preventing another person or group’s opinion from being expressed or threatening those opinions with possible repercussions. This is not who we are, and it is not right.”

The board subsequently formed a free speech committee that made 10 recommendations — including the survey and other policy and practical changes and affirmations, like one ensuring “university resources will not be used for partisan activities.”

To that point, 83 percent of students who responded to the survey earlier this year said they thought their university provided an environment for the “free and open expression of ideas, opinions, and beliefs” — up 10 percentage points from 73 percent in 2021. At the same time, 30 percent of student respondents this year disagreed with a different question asking if their university fostered an environment allowing them to “say things I believe, even though others might find them offensive.”

‘Statistically significant improvement’

And although most students gave themselves credit for seeking out and listening to differing viewpoints — at 82 percent, down from 90 percent in 2021 — they gave their peers far less credit. A majority 53 percent of student respondents disagreed with the statement: “Other students at my university seek out and listen to people with different views.” In 2021, 60 percent disagreed with that statement — indicating some improvement.

“What you typically see in a lot of these national surveys are folks saying, ‘Other people are not particularly good at interacting with those that are different from themselves, but I'm very good at that’,” board Associate Chief Academic Officer Jason Pontius said. “What we saw in this survey is a little bit of a movement toward the happy medium.”

One area in which employee respondents differed from students was in the question of whether the university allowed them to “say things I believe, even though others might find them offensive.” About 43 percent of employees disagreed with that statement, while just 24 percent of student respondents disagreed.

To the portion of the survey investigating how often students and employees interact with people different from themselves — regarding things like race, gender identity, religion, and political believes — students this year reported being less likely than in 2021 to interact with someone holding different political beliefs, with 23 percent reporting doing so less than once a week.

About 36 percent of student respondents said they interact daily with someone of a different race or ethnicity, up from 34 percent in 2021. Similarly, about 38 percent of employees said they interact with someone of a different race daily.

In general, regent David Barker asked whether this year’s survey results represent a “statistically significant improvement in the scores?”

“I would say so, yes,” Pontius said.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com