Shayna Gayer is a political science junior and is a Mustang News opinion columnist. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
The First Amendment is supposed to protect us from being silenced by power. Yet sometimes I think that protection has made us passive, too confident that our rights will defend themselves.
Cal Poly, as an administration, has the policies of a university that values free speech, but the student body has a personality of one that fears it.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonprofit that rates colleges on how well they protect free speech through surveys, policy reviews and incident reports. The results are easy to dispute, yet they still force us to look inward at how we engage with uncomfortable conversations on our own campus.
Cal Poly earned an F rating on FIRE’s 2026 College Free Speech Rankings, placing 154 out of 257 schools. I see that F not just as a score, but as a symptom of how we talk (or specifically what we don’t talk about) on our campus.
FIRE’s report does not point to any specific violations or administrative failures, which might be the clearest sign that our challenge is cultural, not procedural. We are not being punished for what the university has done wrong but for what we, as a student body, have chosen to avoid. The F feels less like a grade on policy and more like a reflection of how unwilling we are to step outside our comfort zones.
When politics shows up, many students start to stare. I’ve heard people whisper, scroll and pretend nothing is happening. A thought crosses students’ minds: “It’s not like I’m going to change anything, so why speak up?” Those thoughts tell me our culture and environment expect us to stay small.
FIRE’s survey data shows 44 percent of Cal Poly students say they self-censor on campus at least once or twice a month, with 72 percent saying shouting down a speaker can be acceptable “in rare cases.”
Maybe those numbers do not sound extreme; most of us choose our moments to speak carefully. But when nearly half of us hesitate that often, it points to something deeper than politeness. It makes me wonder how many conversations never happen because students are worried about how their words will be received by classmates, friends, or even professors.
I have felt that hesitation myself. There have been moments in class when I wanted to raise my hand and question a point, to offer another perspective, but I stayed quiet because I did not want to be “that girl.” What could have been a productive conversation instead turned into another missed opportunity to learn from disagreement.
Cal Poly recorded zero free speech controversies in the last survey period, with no deplatformings and no sanctions. On paper, that suggests order. And yes, there are protests in the UU Plaza, students tabling, and groups speaking out every week. Those are real expressions of free speech and are valuable to our campus community (even if we fully disagree with what’s being said).
What I wonder is what happens next. The conversations often stop the moment the signs come down. Free speech is not just about speaking; it is about engaging, listening, and staying present when the discussion gets uncomfortable.
We like to say Cal Poly is a place where actions speak louder than words, but maybe that is part of the problem. We are known for what we build, design, and calculate, yet when it comes to speaking up, we tend to go quiet.
I have seen students care deeply about an issue in private, then choose to stay silent in public because they do not want to create tension.I think a lot of us know that moment, when the fear of judgment outweighs the need to be heard.
That is not peace; that is hesitation. We often confuse being apolitical with being respectful, when in reality, avoiding hard conversations only keeps us from understanding one another.
“All members of the University community and the public are free to lawfully exercise their right to freedom of expression on University property within the guidelines established by this policy,” Cal Poly states under 141.2 Policy Statement Regarding Free Expression and First Amendment Rights. “University community should recognize that causing discomfort and even causing offense is not a basis for limiting free expression.”
These lines are Cal Poly’s way of setting the ground rules for expression on campus. The university makes it clear that free speech is not just permitted but protected, even when it makes people uncomfortable.
On paper, that is exactly how it should be. Cal Poly is not breaking its own promises or censoring students, but the problem lies in how those promises translate into daily life. A policy can defend speech, but it cannot make people brave enough to use it.
That is why the report still matters; it measures not just the words in a handbook but the atmosphere those words create.
A protest might draw attention for a day, but by the next morning, the lawn is empty and the conversation has already faded online. Of course, it is everyone’s right to stay quiet if they choose, and not every issue will matter to everyone. Still, when silence becomes the default, it stops looking like disinterest and starts feeling like avoidance, the kind that keeps important conversations from ever taking root.
Former University of Chicago president Hanna Holborn Gray once said, “Education should not be intended to make people comfortable; it is meant to make them think.”
FIRE’s F rating hurts because it captures something I, and many others, already feel. We are not being censored by policy. We are censoring ourselves out of fear of saying the wrong thing, of losing friends, or of being misunderstood.
If students want to change our culture, then we need to start asking the hard questions in class, joining clubs that challenge our thinking and showing up to events where we might disagree. The more we practice engaging with respect and curiosity, the closer Cal Poly can get to earning something better than an F in free expression.
We already have the right to speak; now it is on us as students to have the courage to use it.