"Governor Youngkin spoke for half an hour, paying homage to Thomas Jefferson and the First Amendment – warning his audience that free speech was in danger.

"I’m extremely worried about the state of our college and university campuses today."

He then cited statistics to explain his concerns.

“In 2023 a study found that 63% of students believe that shouting down a speaker is acceptable. Thank you for allowing me to speak today," he joked before citing additional stats.

"One in five students self-censor because of fear of how other students, professors or administrators would respond. Twenty seven percent of students think using violence to stop a campus speech is at least rarely acceptable. This is a shocking report card!”

A report card produced by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression or FIRE – a group that has received funding from a variety of conservative foundations, some linked to billionaire Charles Koch. 

Those who attended the event received a report from FIRE ranking colleges for their free speech policies. It rated Virginia Commonwealth University as below average, said Virginia Tech and James Madison were slightly below average while Washington and Lee, George Mason and the University of Virginia were above average. In fact, UVA ranked sixth in the nation for protecting free speech, but Youngkin claimed former Vice President Mike Pence had faced considerable opposition when he spoke on UVA’s campus," reported WVTF.