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My longtime friend Dan McCarthy devoted his New York Post column this week to a phenomenon in American universities that I guess we should have expected, but which is still demoralizing to hear about.

Dan was speaking to an Ivy League professor -- not a right-winger, but what Dan calls "an old-fashioned liberal who actually cares about free speech."

This professor encourages in-class discussion of the great books the students are studying, but he finds students are reluctant to speak.

"Not because they’re afraid of the professor," Dan explains, "but because they fear each other."

Nobody wants to be the next involuntary YouTube sensation when a fellow student records him saying something in class that could be interpreted as "problematic" or wrongspeak.

This professor teaches politics and political philosophy, so you can see why his students dare not say anything. Dan writes, "A young man getting into an argument with a young woman, or a white student with a black student, is not a good look on social media, and a classroom conversation runs the risk of sparking an online inquisition."

The conservatives in his class are used to being demonized for their opinions, so they may be marginally less fearful of speaking. By contrast, writes Dan, all too many liberals "have been conditioned from a young age, both at home and in school, to believe that good-faith argument about serious subjects is inherently offensive -- you might hurt the feelings of the person you’re arguing with. Better to remain silent, even if the professor urges you to speak up."

If this keeps up, and people become conditioned to keep opinions to themselves, then there's no need for censorship or formal punishment. People will stifle their forbidden thoughts before they ever get uttered.

I will tell you this right now, though: this kid will not be intimidated into silence: