Conservative Ivy League Students Harassed, Threatened, Punished for Beliefs

Our Founding Fathers fought for a nation that would be a true free marketplace of ideas, where people could have vigorous debates and disagreements while also defending the rights of those they disagree with. This is at the root of American exceptionalism. This is what has always made our country great.

And this is what’s so troubling and problematic about college aged students today. With a majority of college students saying some forms of speech should be punished, our most fundamental freedoms are under attack – and it’s threatening the core of what our nation is and has always stood for.

Take this latest report from Columbia University, a top-tier university that should be prizing and celebrating diverse debates and discourse. Instead, conservative students find themselves threatened, harassed, and punished for their beliefs.

Brian Min, a Columbia sophomore who describes himself as fiscally conservative and socially mixed, told The College Fix he fears he will be “physically assaulted” if he wears conservative clothing or voices conservative opinions on campus.

Min already said he feels he lost his gig as a writer for the Columbia Spectator last semester because of his political views. …

While there are many conservatives on campus, most are essentially forced to stay in hiding due to fear. Several conservative Columbia students declined to be interviewed by The College Fix for this article, citing fear of retaliation by peers.

Conservatives are forced to meet in secret. Students advertising pro-Israel meetings are stalked and followed, having their property torn down by progressive students. Teachers and TAs mock students who raise conservative positions in classes.

Regardless of what the rules are, it’s clear that liberal students are already punishing the speech and viewpoints they don’t like – harassing, intimidating, and bullying.

It’s impossible to overstate just how disturbing this is. But there’s also hope.

National Review’s David French just published a new article entitled, “The Rise of the Anti-Millennial Conservative Millennial. Having fought for more than a decade for a true free marketplace of ideas on college campuses as a constitutional attorney, he talks about conservative college students he meets as he travels around the country.

This revolution won’t be televised, but it will be on Snapchat. In a bleak time — when so many members of the older “elite” have so plainly failed — there is for once true intellectual hope for a new generation of conservatives. They’ve already rebelled against their peers. Now they’re set to rebel against an entire culture.

Good for these young conservative college students fighting the good fight. Refusing to be victimized, they continue to stand up for their principles in a hostile environment.

Sounds a lot like the Founding Fathers themselves.