A group of higher education experts expressed optimism Tuesday that the so-called "Great Awokening" that saw widespread left-wing activism on college campuses and led to widespread censorship over the past few years is receding.

During a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute, co-hosted by the Washington Examiner, three panelists with experience in higher education, said they have seen a bit of a retreat from the extreme progressivism that has dominated college campuses in recent years. The panel was moderated by Washington Examiner columnist and AEI senior fellow Tim Carney.

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"There's some evidence that some of the fervor that we've seen in the last few years is peaking, and some of the excitement is dying down a little bit," American Council of Trustees and Alumni Steve McGuire said during the event. "There's some evidence that the number of cancellations that are taking place on campuses are dying down. But the data is fairly recent. The Great Awokening, such as it is, isn't that old. So if it is dying down, we're probably still in that process."

Inez Stepman, a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women's Forum, said that while the progressive campus activism that has seen, among other things, numerous conservative speakers shouted down or canceled may be subsiding, its institutional hold has not been broken.

"The larger question is not just has it peaked, but has been de-institutionalized?" Stepman said. "And I think the answer to that is completely no."

Sarah Lawrence College professor and American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Sam Abrams said that amid laments over the decline of higher education institutions, there are signs of hope.

"I think that the big narrative here ... is there has been such an institutional decline that some of the resilience is gone, the ability to navigate complex issues is gone," Abrams said. "What I'm seeing on campus, however, is some signs of hope, where a lot of these students do want to confront difference, they do take pride in hearing alternative viewpoints."

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Abrams said that he is seeing a shift among students that differs from their older predecessors from six or seven years ago.

"The glimmer of hope that I'm seeing and feeling is that there is an openness to [differing opinions] in a way that I did not see five or six years ago with the older generation," he said.