Campus Misinformation : The Real Threat to Free Speech in American Higher Education

An incisive examination of how pundits and politicians manufactured the campus free speech crisis--and created a genuine challenge to academic freedom in the process. If we listen to the politicians and pundits, college campuses have become fiercely ideological spaces where students unthinkingly endorse a liberal orthodoxy and forcibly silence anyone who dares to disagree. These commentators lament the demise of free speech and academic freedom. But what is really happening on college campuses? Campus Misinformation shows how misinformation about colleges and universities has proliferated in recent years, with potentially dangerous results. Popular but highly misleading claims about a so-called free speech crisis and a lack of intellectual diversity on college campuses emerged in the mid-2010s and continue to shape public discourse about higher education across party lines. Such disingenuous claims impede constructive deliberation about higher learning while normalizing suspect ideas about First Amendment freedoms and democratic participation. Taking a non-partisan approach, Bradford Vivian argues that reporting on campus culture has grossly exaggerated the importance and representativeness of a small number of isolated events; misleadingly advocated for an artificial parity between liberals and conservatives as true viewpoint diversity; mischaracterized the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces; and purposefully confused critique and protest with censorship and "cancel culture." Organizations and think tanks generate pseudoscientific data to support this discourse, then advocate for free speech in highly specific ways that actually limit speech in general. In the name of free speech and viewpoint diversity, we now see restrictions on the right to protest and laws banning certain books, theories, and subjects from schools. By deconstructing the political and rhetorical development of the free speech crisis, Vivian not only provides a powerful corrective to contemporary views of higher education, but provides a blueprint for readers to identify and challenge misleading language--and to understand the true threats to our freedoms. "Campus Misinformation shows how misinformation about colleges and universities has proliferated in recent years. Currently popular but misleading claims about so-called free speech crises and a lack of intellectual diversity on college campuses emerged in the mid-2010s and continue to shape public discourse about higher education. Such claims, which this book defines as "campus misinformation," impede constructive deliberation about higher learning while helping to normalize suspect ideas about First Amendment freedoms and democratic participation. Campus Misinformation is a study, above all, of misleading language and its detrimental effects. The chapters in this book detail how campus misinformation popularizes flawed arguments about such specific key terms or concepts as viewpoint diversity, trigger warnings, safe spaces, free speech, and orthodoxy. The sum of that terminology reflects elitist and politically reactionary meta-discourse rather than consistently informed and responsible arguments about colleges and universities. More disturbing still, portions of campus misinformation resemble both past and present forms of organized resistance to creating multicultural institutions of higher learning. Campus Misinformation helps readers to identify examples of misinformation while encouraging them to advocate for better quality public debates about academic freedom in higher education and democratic participation beyond. This book should matter to anyone concerned about the state of higher education and the state of our democracy alike"-- Provided by publisher ## Abstract Campus Misinformation shows how misinformation about colleges and universities has proliferated in recent years. Currently popular but misleading claims about so-called free speech crises and a lack of intellectual diversity on college campuses emerged in the mid-2010s and continue to shape public discourse about higher education. Such claims, which this book defines as “campus misinformation,” impede constructive deliberation about higher learning while helping to normalize suspect ideas about First Amendment freedoms and democratic participation. Campus Misinformation is a study, above all, of misleading language and its detrimental effects. The chapters in this book detail how campus misinformation popularizes flawed arguments about such specific key terms or concepts as viewpoint diversity, trigger warnings, safe spaces, free speech, and orthodoxy. The sum of that terminology reflects elitist and politically reactionary metadiscourse rather than consistently informed and responsible arguments about colleges and universities. More disturbing still, portions of campus misinformation resemble both past and present forms of organized resistance to creating multicultural institutions of higher learning. Campus Misinformation helps readers identify examples of misinformation while encouraging them to advocate for better-quality public debates about academic freedom in higher education and democratic participation beyond. This book should matter to anyone concerned about the state of higher education and the state of US democracy. Popular but highly misleading narratives about the state of free speech and intellectual diversity on college campuses impede constructive deliberation about higher education while promoting suspect ideas about First Amendment freedoms and democratic participation. In 'Campus Misinformation', Bradford Vivian shows how misinformation about colleges and universities has proliferated in recent years, with potentially dangerous results