By: Jonathan Zimmerman – wsj.com – December 3, 2024

It’s no joke—universities impoverish themselves by suppressing conservatives.

A student came to my office recently and told me that she voted for Donald Trump. She asked me to promise not to tell anyone. I understand why. In 2016, a student at Bryn Mawr College asked on the school’s ride-share site whether anyone was going to a nearby Trump rally, prompting a social-media avalanche. Some students labeled her a racist and a white supremacist. Scared and sad, she called the school’s suicide hotline. Two days later, she went home and dropped out.

Others were watching and got the hint. In totalitarian countries, the government dictates what you can and can’t say. At our colleges, we do it to ourselves.

A few weeks ago, an anonymous student posted on Reddit to ask if it would be OK to wear a “Make America Great Again” hat on campus. All the replies gave the same answer: No.

“You have the freedom to do it, just don’t be surprised when everyone ignores you and doesn’t want to be associated with you,” one poster wrote. “Wearing a MAGA hat is the social equivalent of not showering for a month with the moral equivalent of kicking puppies for fun.”

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. I think Mr. Trump is a bully and a charlatan, and I struggle to understand how anyone could support him. That’s precisely why I need to hear from people who do.

But don’t tell that to the professors around the country who sent out emails on Nov. 6 offering solace—and in some cases canceling their classes. That demonstrated contempt for Trump voters, not curiosity about them. If you were a pro-Trump student, how else could you interpret an email underscoring the “hurt” or “trauma” that “we” had suffered?

I’ve heard some colleagues say that self-censorship by Trump supporters is their problem, not ours: that they should show some backbone and speak their truth. But if we discovered that, say, black, Muslim or female students were afraid to express what they think, would we simply tell them to buck up?

No. There would be a long round of breast-beating followed by endless committee meetings, which would culminate in a 10-point strategic plan about how to protect our threatened students in exercising their freedom of speech.

I don’t think we need to do that for the Trump voters among us. The last thing we need is more meetings. But we should encourage conservative students to raise their voices, and we should promise to support them when they do. I learned a lot from the student who spoke candidly in my office. I want others to learn from her, too.

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Source: A Trump Voter Walks Into My Office – WSJ