U. of Nebraska Wondered Whether Conservative Students Were Being Silenced. Here’s What It Found Out.

The university system commissioned a Gallup survey after a liberal graduate student berated a conservative undergrad. Among other things, Gallup found that some students — and faculty members — were anxious about speaking their minds.

When a liberal graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln last fall berated a conservative undergraduate to the point of tears, people in the state began to wonder if conservative students were living in fear on its public-university campuses. Some local politicians painted a grim picture of young Nebraskans’ being indoctrinated by liberal professors, or cowed into silence for fear of being browbeaten or given a failing grade.

Fearing a political backlash, Hank M. Bounds, president of the University of Nebraska system, commissioned Gallup to study the political climate on all four of its campuses.

Gallup’s report, released on Thursday, suggests that most people at the universities, conservatives included, do not...