Deciding on a College During COVID-19? Don’t Forget Free Expression

Deciding which college to attend is a momentous decision, but now students and parents are making that decision absent the traditional campus visit. Normally, a visit is when parents get up close to ensure a school will care not just for their child’s academic future but personal wellbeing. It’s a heavy financial investment, and with some colleges contemplating remote instruction into the fall, not only this year’s high school seniors but next year’s may be forced to sign on the dotted line blindly.

Many parents, restricted to online research, are worried whether a college will be a good fit for their child—and whether the school culture welcomes all viewpoints, including the values parents have instilled in them.

Good news: there are ways to investigate whether a college has a robust free expression culture without a campus visit. With hundreds of colleges extending the deadline for enrollment commitment into the summer, there’s time to gather information.

A first step is to check out what a school’s leaders have said about freedom of expression. More than 70 schools have followed the lead of the University of Chicago in adopting a free expression statement. Other schools haven’t adopted a formal statement but have described a commitment to free expression in pronouncements by the provost, president, or a dean.

Next, read up on a school’s polices on protests, tabling, posters, chalking, and leafleting. Of course, most campus speech isn’t made in protest—but how a school handles protest and expressive activities such as tabling is revealing. Schools are right to place some limits on the time, manner, and place of such expression (protestors cannot barge into a classroom or rally at 3:00 am). But when schools go further, limiting protests to a small free speech zone, requiring that all posters be approved before displaying, or restricting leafleting (in a few cases, students have been punished for passing out copies of the U.S. Constitution!), that may be a clue the campus does not embrace open debates.

One topic to consider: whether a campus has an “all-comers” policy for clubs and student organizations, which prohibits organizations from excluding anyone from membership or positions of leadership. Some families will see all-comers policies as promoting a non-discriminatory, equitable campus. Other families welcome the idea that a club can limit membership so that, while a student is exposed to the rough-and-tumble of engaging with all viewpoints on the quad and in the classroom, there are communities such as all-women clubs and religious groups exclusive to a particular faith community where they can feel at home intellectually or spiritually.

The next step is to learn more about the student civic culture and viewpoint diversity on campus. A university might claim to affirm free expression but still lack a vibrant campus where students can hear a range of viewpoints and share their opinions freely.

One important clue is found in the range of its registered student organizations (RSOs), listed on a school’s website. Are there both Democratic and Republican student groups? ROTC groups, and groups devoted to free expression? Are there organizations—such as hiking groups, culinary clubs, and debate clubs—that will bring together students with different opinions on social and political matters? Explore the school’s event calendar and look to see whether in past months campus programs, departments, and organizations hosted speakers, debates, and forums that represented a truly broad range of viewpoints.

Finally, look closely at a school’s general education curriculum and the courses that satisfy those requirements. General education courses—which make up much of the first two years of college—lay the ground for the creation of a shared intellectual life among students in different majors. Too many schools allow students to satisfy general education requirements with lightweight courses on zombies and video games that don’t equip students with knowledge that lets them contextualize contemporary events and establish friendships on shared intellectual interests.

The college decision doesn’t need to be poorly informed just because campus visits were missed. As you’re gathering data about finances, graduation rates, and student-to-professor ratios, investigating the culture of free expression and open exchange will maximize the chances of finding the school that is the right fit for your child.