Students are pushing back on cancel culture

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s victory, there is less patience for cancel culture on campuses. Whereas students were afraid to speak up and share opinions on contentious topics for years out of fear of social, academic, or reputation consequences, those sentiments appear to be changing, and many students are now demanding more intellectually open campuses by challenging those attempting to silence dissent. 

In January, a group of keffiyeh-wearing students staged a demonstration during a history of modern Israel class at Columbia University. While one of the protesters filmed, another disrupter read a prewritten anti-Israel statement, beginning, “We’re giving you an inside scoop on Columbia University’s normalization of genocide.”