With commencement season, we can expect to see an overwhelming number of left-wing speakers addressing graduates at our American colleges and universities.

That is not surprising, nor does it shock us when we see a nationally known conservative speaker such as Ann Coulter engaged in a faceoff with the University of California, Berkeley, which, ironically gave birth to the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s.Conservative students and instructors are in the minority on most campuses. A study published in Econ Journal Watch last year looked at faculty voter registration at 40 leading universities and found that, out of 7,243 professors, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a nearly 12-to-1 ratio.Ron Robinson, president of Young America's Foundation, said liberal speakers outnumber conservatives by at least 6-to-1 at the nation's top 100 schools, and a 2015 survey showed a rapid upswing in conservative blackouts at college campuses.While conservatives won the national elections by a wide margin, he said campuses have doubled down on liberal speakers and elected conservative officials are a distinct minority of those invited to speak at the nation's top schools.He said the country is more conservative and campuses have a larger selection of conservative leaders to invite, yet higher education continues to offer only a one-sided education. He believes this trend will be detrimental to the development of our country's future leaders since students are not getting the full picture about government policy or learning about the Constitution, American exceptionalism, or free market economics.The brouhaha over Coulter's appearance flared up last week after Berkeley Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy notified Berkeley College Republicans, who had invited Coulter, that the event was being canceled for security reasons. The next day, officials reversed their decision to cancel the speech and rescheduled it five days later, on May 2.Coulter rejected the new arrangement and, in a series of tweets, she criticized the university, saying Berkeley officials were adding "burdensome" conditions. She said she had already spent money to hold the event on April 27, was not available to appear on May 2 and vowed to speak on the original date whether the university approves or not.The student group that invited Coulter has threatened to sue the school.Berkeley has long been at the epicenter for campus unrest, protest and violence. A recent rally supporting President Donald Trump erupted into violence, and in February, protests shut down a speaking event with former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos. Rioters set fires, threw rocks and Molotov cocktails and attacked members of the crowd.With clashes between right-wing and left-wing protesters spreading, more universities are banning polarizing speakers. In 2013, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill barred two nationally known conservative female investigative reporters, Katie Pavlich and Ann McElhinney, from speaking on campus.Claremont College in California prevented conservative commentator Heather MacDonald from giving a scheduled speech on campus titled "The War on Police." It was based on her 2016 book addressing how political rhetoric against the police makes America less safe.Blocking the entrance of the building where she was to deliver the speech were students with signs reading "Black Lives Matter" and "How do you spell fascism? CMC!"Claremont's vice president of academic affairs acknowledged the students' right to free speech, but condemned not allowing MacDonald that opportunity. The fact that they made it impossible for her to speak - and for students to listen and then to debate - is unconstitutional.The Supreme Court outlined the important role of universities in a 1957 rendering (Sweezy v. New Hampshire):"The essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. No one should underestimate the vital role in a democracy that is played by those who guide and train our youth."To impose any straitjacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our nation. No field of education is so thoroughly comprehended by man that new discoveries cannot yet be made. … Scholarship cannot flourish in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust."Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die."By Jim Zbick |

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