UW System to Relaunch Student Free Speech Survey
Underwritten by John Menard-funded institution.
Van Hise Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Friday, April 2, 2021, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
The University of Wisconsin System will relaunch a student free speech survey that spurred the resignation of a chancellor six months earlier. The survey is aimed at gauging attitudes toward free speech, viewpoint diversity and self-censorship at the state’s 13 universities.
The 29-page survey will be sent to random samples of students on each UW campus with researchers hoping for a minimum of 500 responses, according to a UW System press release issued Friday.
It also asks students whether they’ve felt pressured by an instructor to agree with political or ideological views expressed in class and if they’ve been reprimanded for disagreeing with an instructor.
Toward the end of the survey, students are asked to provide their enrollment status, race, sexual orientation, religious affiliation and what political party they most identify with. Those who complete the survey will receive a $10 gift card.
During a call with reporters Friday, UW System President Jay Rothman said the research project is aimed at ensuring the UW System is “committed to being a marketplace of ideas, a place where nuanced and complicated issues can be discussed openly, freely and civilly.”
“We want passionate debate on tough issues in a way that people can learn and ask questions without being labeled or tainted,” Rothman said. “We’re not going to solve the issues that we have as a society, which are challenging and complicated, by soundbites and tweets.”
Rothman said the survey has been vetted by outside experts and UW System shared governance groups.
The research team behind the effort includes Tim Shiell, UW-Stout philosophy professor and director of that campus’ Menard Center; Eric Kasper, UW-Eau Claire political science professor and director of the Menard Center for Constitutional Studies; UW-Eau Claire political science professor Geoffrey Peterson; and UW-Eau Claire psychology professor April Bleske-Rechek.
The survey and its implementation is overseen by the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service at UW-Stevens Point at Wausau.
The UW System’s initial plan was to send the free speech survey to students at the end of the spring semester in May but was delayed after UW-Whitewater’s interim Chancellor Jim Henderson resigned in protest.
At the time, former UW System interim President Michael Falbo said some chancellors had raised concerns about the survey, “and it regrettably led to a resignation.”
The delay disappointed some Republican state lawmakers like Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, who told Wisconsin Public Radio at the time that he and others complained about the delay. Murphy, who chairs the State Assembly’s Committee on Colleges and Universities, said he thought the quality of the study would suffer in the fall because there would be fewer new freshmen in the sample.
Some Republican lawmakers and candidates have long accused the UW System of stifling opinions from conservative students and speakers. In December, a bill was introduced that would punish state universities and technical colleges for free speech or academic freedom violations.
Murphy supported that bill. On Friday, he told Wisconsin Public Radio the survey’s results could inform similar legislation in the future.
Some UW System Faculty, students and the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin union have been skeptical about the survey and voiced concerns about it being driven by partisan politics.
Rothman, UW System president, has said that’s not the case. He said it’s an effort to get usable data to understand what students think about free speech rights and responsibilities.
“I don’t think we should be afraid about what we’re going to hear,” said Rothman. “I think we should be open to what we hear so that we can continue to focus on enhancing the experience for our students around freedom of expression and around civil dialog.”
UW-Madison student MGR Govindarajan is the Legislative Affairs Chair for student government group Associated Students of Madison, or ASM. He told WPR that while ASM isn’t taking an official stance on the survey, he has personal concerns about leading questions and thinks answers could be weaponized by Republican lawmakers.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of the results, like the president said,” Govindarajan said. “However, there is a very real possibility that the results will be manipulated. That is something that students in student government are preparing for and something that we know will have a negative impact on students directly.”
In concert with the survey, Rothman announced the creation of a Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue aimed at coordinating research and policy centers around the UW System focused on the U.S. Constitution and public affairs to elevate civil dialogue on the First Amendment.
The system will also sponsor and promote the Wisconsin Civics Games at middle schools and high schools in the state.
Listen to the WPR report here.
UW System to relaunch student free speech survey was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Hmm…Menard…Menard…I know that name. Is that the richest man in WI? One of the 50 richest in our country? Worth 10 Billion? The right wing friend of Trumps, who wouldn’t open a new store during Obama’s tenure? The trickle down…anti union guy who is known to forcefully feed right wing economic doctrines to his employees? Whose company’s arbitration & pay raise rules have been found to be illegal? Not the same Menard that been been found guilty and fined for for dumping hazardous waste in streams and landfills? Maybe the UW students are aware and won’t be bought for a $10. Gift card!
This survey seems designed to be a tool to measure the variance of the college experience from right-wing ideology. As such, it will find variance because the college experience involves students and scholars encountering ideas sparking thinking and disagreement that does not conform to an ideology based on prejudice and hierarchy. Many students may get frustrated with their instructors and don’t feel understood–and they are then challenged to encounter the material of the class and express a deeper understanding of it. Indeed, this college experience involves a disruption of thought and the complex “sifting and winnowing” that has historically made Wisconsin colleges so vital to our society. This process must vary from a right-wing ideological indoctrination and gerrymandered representation. Most disturbing, what we should be examining is how this survey itself is part of an effort to the extend the loss of representative democracy in Wisconsin under the direction of an extremely ideologically stringent political group funded by extremely wealthy individuals. This is a tool from Menards we should not buy.
Is it a Menards gift card?