Thursday, November 20, 2003
Many college students, administrators fuzzy on First Amendment
One out of four college students in a nationwide survey was unable to name any of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment, according to a free-speech watchdog group.
"These survey results are disheartening, but they unfortunately are not surprising," said Alan Charles Kors, president of the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
Even among campus administrators who were surveyed, from presidents to assistant deans, 11 percent couldn't name any specific First Amendment rights, the survey indicated.
"Our colleges and universities continue to deny students rights that are respected in nearly every other venue of our free society," said Kors, who said the latest survey was a "belated wake-up call."
The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
When asked to name any of the specific rights guaranteed by the amendment,
74 percent of private college students and 71 percent of public college students said freedom of speech;
32 percent of private college students and 27 percent of public college students said freedom of religion, and
31 percent of private college students and 28 percent of public college students said freedom of the press.
Smaller numbers named the rights of assembly and association and the right to petition.
Twenty-four percent of private college students and 28 percent of public college students didn't answer or said they didn't know.
The study was conducted between December 2002 and April 2003, surveying 1,037 students at 339 colleges and universities, and 306 administrators at 306 colleges and universities nationwide.
The survey was funded by the John Templeton Foundation, which studies issues including religious freedom, and conducted by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.
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