EDITORIAL: Love free speech? Stay away from college campuses.

If you want to be depressed, take a gander at what college students think about free speech.

Earlier this month, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released its annual College Free Speech Rankings. It surveyed 45,000 students to find out how comfortable they were with controversial viewpoints on campus and sharing their personal opinions. It also sought their opinion on the appropriateness of using violence to stop controversial speakers.

Once upon a time, a survey like this would have been dismissed as a joke. One of the best parts of university is supposed to be the free exchange of ideas. Fiery debates built friendships. Now, they end them or students self-censor. Some of the best professors would challenge students’ beliefs, regardless of their own position on an issue. They wanted to train students to think. This allowed students to explore weaknesses in their own arguments. In turn, this gave students a more nuanced and deeper understanding of issues and even a respect for the other side’s perspective. The First Amendment was revered.

No longer.

Almost three-fourths of students said they oppose allowing campus speakers who challenge the prevailing orthodoxy on transgenderism and Black Lives Matter. Three-fifths supported not allowing those who oppose abortion in all circumstances. Most concerningly, 20 percent of students said violence is sometimes acceptable to stop a speech on campus.

Unsurprisingly, conservative students had much greater concerns about speaking freely. Forty-two percent said “they cannot express their opinions freely.” Among liberal students, it was just 13 percent.

Once upon a time, professors might have helped all students feel comfortable expressing their views. Now, professors are contributing to the censorious culture. In all, 40 percent of students said they were “uncomfortable disagreeing with a professor — in public or in a written assignment.” A fifth of students said they “feel a lot of pressure to avoid discussing controversial topics in their classes.”

UNLV did fare better than other schools, ranking 27th out of 203. That’s a good ranking, but the details are less encouraging. Just 42 percent of students said it was never acceptable to shout down a speaker to prevent him or her from talking. Fewer than 40 percent of students said they weren’t worried about reputational damage from someone misunderstanding something they said or did. UNLV did outpace UNR, which ranked 76th.

This means there’s work to be done. College administrators and state policymakers must make it clear that free speech on Nevada’s college campuses is non-negotiable.