What if Student Protesters Had to Defend Their Positions with Logic?

Schools should make bad arguments embarrassing

Imagine you’re an 18-year-old college freshman. 

It’s the first day of class and you’re living away from home for the first time in your life. As you walk around campus, you see signs, protests, and encampments. You hear students chanting in unison and see that their clothing signals unity too. 

Occasionally, you witness some menacing scenes. Protesters gather around and scream at certain students. They prevent some students from walking through certain parts of the campus. You see older people, dressed in blazers and skirts, walk right past the menacing behavior. 

You find your first class and take a seat. 

Your professor begins class and makes a passing remark that shows he stands with the protesters. Some students speak up in support of the professor’s point of view.

You know very little about the issue at the center of the controversy, but you do know that you want to fit in. You want to make friends and you want good grades. You don’t want to be the target of any kind of hostility. The environment urges you to support the dominant point of view—or at least keep your mouth shut. 

Similar incentives press down on administrators, and campus echo chambers make social pressure all the more odious because monocultures grow more extreme over time. Administrators often sympathize with student protestors, yet they still seethe with anxiety as activists grow more more confrontational. Administrators are slow to punish activists because doing so would ratchet up their fury even more. It might also enrage radical faculty members. 

No wonder universities give in to groupthink so often.

Raise your hand if you’re surprised that Columbia University went spineless when dealing with those who occupied Hamilton Hall on April 30. Cornell’s Dr. Randy Wayne notes that, of the 22 students arrested, only three received interim suspensions, and only one probation. 

Eighteen junior rabble rousers remain in good standing. 

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Remember the Pursuit of Truth?

Warren Smith, a young high school teacher with a haircut that looks like he might have gigged with Oasis, looks directly into the camera and speaks calmly to a student sitting off camera. 

The student thinks J.K. Rowling has “bigoted opinions,” and Smith asks him why he thinks that. 

“She has had a history of being extremely transphobic, I've heard.”

Smith asks for an example.

The student can’t provide one, but takes some time to search through Rowling’s Twitter account. He returns with a Tweet in which the Harry Potter author criticizes those who would force women out of their jobs for saying, “sex is real.”

“So you find that bigoted?” Smith asks.

“It was deemed transphobic,” says the student.

“Do you find that transphobic?”

“I don’t really have an opinion on that, but I’m just going with what a lot of other people have said.”

“Let’s not go with what other people are saying,” says Smith. “Let’s learn how to critically think.”

Smith remains gentle with his questioning, but keeps the student on point. Eventually, the student admits he doesn’t have any evidence against Rowling. He “feels like an idiot” because he had formed his opinion based on what some of his classmates had said.

The student admits, “Until today, I hadn’t really thought about it.”

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Give Logic a Chance

Arguments and evidence don’t persuade many people, but that’s not because they’re ineffective. Arguments and evidence can work, but only in certain environments. These days schools and universities have shown little interest in creating the kind of environment Smith created. On Smith’s YouTube video, a joke from the top commenter expresses the cynicism so many of us feel: “The teacher is 100% correct and sensible so expect him to lose his job any time now!”

Social pressure caused Smith’s student to form a hasty opinion about J.K. Rowling, and social pressure at universities foments an atmosphere of hot-headed conformity. But social pressure could be put to good use. University administrators, many of whom are bracing themselves for another round of chaos this fall, could harness social pressure to encourage the pursuit of truth. 

Smith’s Socratic dialogue occurred in his office, but imagine if it took place at a high school or college class. Smith would invite Rowling foes to provide evidence against her, but he’d also let defenders make their case. He would make it clear that even dangerous opinions would receive a fair hearing.

In an environment that values debate, students would score social points, not by screaming, emoting, or hurling identity-based ad hominems, but by demonstrating that they actually know what they’re talking about. Students who chose to flout the rules of debate would be seen, not as noble, but as embarrassing. 

Social pressure would push students not toward groupthink, but toward deeper thought.

Incentives Matter

Nobody wants to be wrong, and we certainly don’t want to be wrong in front of a group of our peers.

U.C. Berkeley political scientist Ron Hassner discovered that college students are largely ignorant about the Israel-Hamas war. They might holler “From the river to the sea,” but don’t expect them to know which river or sea the chant refers to. Hassner reports that “after learning a handful of basic facts about the Middle East, 67.8% of students went from supporting ‘from the river to sea’ to rejecting the mantra.”

Students who make fools of themselves in class by bellowing platitudes might be less inclined to grab a bullhorn and scream the same platitudes at a protest. They might be less inclined to shutdown a speaker with an opposing point of view. They might be more inclined to listen to the speaker carefully, and then come back to class with a better argument. 

Some campus leaders are signaling that they still do care about the clash of ideas. At Dartmouth College, President Sian Beilock is encouraging faculty members to stream debates about the Middle East so students can learn from the exchange. 

Good news indeed, but elsewhere cowardice reigns.

You might think Warren Smith would have been promoted to school principal or poached by a major university, but no. He was fired. 

That wisecracking YouTube commenter turned out to be prophetic, after all. 

If you’re fed up with groupthink in entertainment, media, and more, please consider subscribing to Shiny Herd.

Ted Balaker is a filmmaker, and former network newser and think tanker. His written work has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, USA Today, Reason, and The Washington Post. His recent film work includes Little Pink House starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried and Penn Jillette, and the new feature documentary based on the bestselling book, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Stream the very first “Substack Presents” feature documentary here.