The main cause of this declining tolerance in academia was laid out recently by the ‘Heterodox Academy’, a new campaign by about 20 academics in the US aimed at increasing political diversity in universities (among those involved are Steven Pinker and Jonathan Haidt).

In one post April Kelly-Woessner of Elizabethtown College spells out how the monopoly of ideas by the liberal-Left has led to the rise of intolerance. She writes:

First, I make the case that young people are less politically tolerant than their parents’ generation and that this marks a clear reversal of the trends observed by social scientists for the past 60 years. Political tolerance is generally defined as the willingness to extend civil liberties and basic democratic rights to members of unpopular groups. That is, in order to be tolerant, one must recognize the rights of one’s political enemies to fully participate in the democratic process. Typically, this is measured by asking people whether they will allow members of unpopular groups, or groups they dislike, to exercise political rights, such as giving a public talk, teaching college, or having their books on loan in public libraries.

Read the article “‘Safe Spaces’ Exist Because Universities Treat Secular Ideas as Sacred” on catholicherald.co.uk.