Last year, college officials often allowed pro-Hamas protesters a free hand in their disruptive, sometimes violent and destructive rampages. If and when such protests break out again, it might stiffen their backbones to know that the public is largely against the protesters.

In today’s Martin Center article, Regan Glass looks at recent polling where people were asked for their views on the campus protests.

She writes:

Late last year, the Center for Applied Research in Education at the University of Southern California asked 1,857 adults for their thoughts on student protests. The survey was given in the wake of widespread campus upheavals following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel. Perhaps surprisingly for the young men and women occupying university buildings and disrupting ceremonies and speeches, respondents were largely unsupportive of disruptive student behavior. Indeed, colleges that wish to enforce their rules are likely to find ample backing from the public.

We used to understand reasonable restrictions on speech (and conduct) relating to time, place, and manner. Apparently, quite a few Americans still do. College officials should take note.