Political polarization does much more harm than good by dividing communities, ruining relationships and creating a world where we hide our beliefs because we are afraid to share. It creates a normalcy for people to stop listening to one another and start labeling each other with stereotypes and misconceptions. Instead of honoring our shared values, there is a general feeling that compromise with the “other side” is a sign of defeat rather than progress.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on college campuses today. Many students, including myself, avoid speaking our minds, because we fear backlash from our professors, from our peers and from our own friends.
A survey conducted in September 2025 by the Pew Research Center found that 70% of Americans believe the higher education system is headed in the wrong direction. And while I am unsure if I would necessarily make that general of a claim, I can see how parents, especially of Jewish students, feel ambivalent about letting their child into an environment like a college campus in the year 2025.
True academic success relies on being able to challenge others and to respond to challenges in good-faith, which requires empathy and respect, something we lack on campuses across the nation.
Last spring, I took a “Journalism in the Middle East” class with a very diverse group of students, but truly never felt more uncomfortable working around tense topics. You could feel the divide within the classroom through passive comments, subliminal messages in work and through the way students decided to sit in the classroom. Although the class spanned nearly five months, I felt that there was never a moment where anyone was front and open about their opinions.
As President of Longhorn Students for Israel for almost two years now, I have felt polarizing attitudes towards me which make me feel afraid for my safety and well-being. Polarization makes everyday interactions between my peers and I tense because people assume things about me that have no basis. Group projects, open forum classroom discussions and even casual conversations over lunch can feel uneasy. I have watched my friends lose friends because of differing opinions and wish we could develop these tensions into healthy debates, an opportunity to grow.
The Pew Research Center survey found in 2019 that 79% of Republicans believe a reason the higher education system is headed in the wrong direction is because professors bring personal politics into the classroom.
Political polarization threatens higher education internally, within staff and administration. Our professors are our guides and mentors, and when the boundaries of challenging ideas are broken in class, it is very dangerous to students. Specifically, at the University of Texas at Austin, there have been multiple accounts where professors cross the line of what is free speech and what directly targets students in their classroom, and it is our responsibility to keep our community accountable.
Rad is a journalism junior from Los Angeles, California. She is the President of Longhorn Students for Israel.
