Columbia Alumna Liza Libes Alleges Speech Suppression After 2 English Degrees
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Nov 7
Columbia Alumna Liza Libes Alleges Speech Suppression After 2 English Degrees
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Nov 7
Summary
Liza Libes, who earned Columbia English degrees in 2019 and 2020, said classroom grading and campus pressure pushed her from liberal freshman to conservative graduate.
Libes said she received lower marks when defending patriarchy or skipping a professor's "queer desire" reading of Shakespeare, while essays aligning with gender-norm critiques earned higher grades.
Beyond class, she described an unspoken expectation to hold approved views and said she feared social ostracism for expressing conservative beliefs.
Libes linked her free-speech stance to her post-Soviet family background and now runs the Substack "Pens & Poison" to criticize ideological teaching in literature.
Columbia University did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Did an Ivy League student truly face grading bias, or does her top mark on a controversial paper reveal a completely different story?
With widespread fears of campus backlash, can elite institutions ever fully protect free speech while navigating intense ideological divides?
When university classes demand specific theoretical interpretations, where is the line drawn between academic rigor and strict intellectual conformity?