Ricky Schlott
Opinion
February 28, 2023 | 6:00 am
A new report, The Academic Mind in 2022, by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) shows college professors fear saying the wrong thing could cost them their reputations — or even their jobs. Shutterstock
Academic freedom is under siege. A new survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) shows professors keep their mouths shut and bite their tongues for fear of rejection.
In their newly released report, The Academic Mind in 2022, FIRE (of which I have been a Fellow since 2021) surveyed nearly 1,500 professors from colleges and universities across the country. The results show mass self-censorship and a widespread fear that saying the wrong thing could cost them their reputation – or even their job.
“I’ve been defending free speech on campus for twenty-two years now, and it was clear things had gotten a lot worse in the last few years,” Greg Lukianoff, FIRE’s President and CEO, told me. “But when I look at these numbers, it’s even worse than I thought.”
More than half (52%) of professors said they were “fearful of losing their job or reputation because someone misunderstood something they said or did, took it out of context, or something from their past online posts”.
About 72% of conservative faculty members and 56% of moderates thought so, while 40% of liberal faculty members did. About a third (34%) said they often feel they cannot speak their mind because students, peers or school administrators may react.
More than half (52%) of professors said they were “fearful of losing their job or reputation because someone misunderstood something they said or did, took it out of context, or something from their past online posts.” Shutterstock
I witnessed this erosion of free speech on campus firsthand as a student at NYU. As a then-Junior in 2021, I wrote about the pressure I felt to adapt to the ultra-progressive environment at my university—and the ultimate satisfaction I felt in speaking out and staying true to my values.
No wonder professors feel the same way, given how illiberal the campus has become. Professors from across the country have caught up in the dropout culture — and some have even been penalized by their universities for breaking with campus orthodoxy.
Schlott has previously written about the pressure of adapting to the ultra-progressive environment as a junior at New York University. Stephen Yang
Lukianoff says he was particularly shocked to learn that 11% of faculty members said they had been either disciplined or threatened with disciplinary action by administrators for what they taught in the classroom. Another 4% were threatened or punished for research, scientific lectures or collaboration in non-scientific publications.
It’s “clear that things have gotten a lot worse over the past few years,” said FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff of the fear of the dropout culture on college campuses. Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
This means that about one in seven professors was intimidated because of their speech.
“We already know that the abandonment culture has targeted hundreds of professors, but we also know that there are behind-closed-door hearings and other ways of forcing professors into compliance that are conducted in complete secrecy,” Lukianoff said. “It destroys lives and damages the integrity of academic research.”
Free speech on campus is critical to ensuring professors and students alike can grapple with tough ideas and ask tough questions. After all, that is the purpose of a college education.
But when a significant number of professors are threatened and even punished for daring to be controversial, it sends a chilling message to others around them: conform or risk the same fate.
“An investigation, or the mere threat of one, can create or increase existing social pressures to avoid certain topics, questions or viewpoints and stifle classroom discussions about complex and important issues,” states the FIRE report.
FIRE presented Yale University with its Lifetime Censorship Award for “repeated violations of students’ and scholars’ freedom of expression and academic liberties.” WireImage
FIRE’s poll makes it clear: Academic freedom is suffering at colleges and universities across the country—including our most prestigious. In fact, last year FIRE bestowed its Lifetime Censorship Award on Yale University for “continued violations of students’ and scholars’ freedom of expression and academic liberties.
“Yale’s impressive academic reputation is on a collision course with reality, and there are no signs that its leadership is even trying to back down.”
When professors, even in the best institutions, avoid controversy, it spells disaster for public confidence in science. How can we trust academics to push boundaries and make discoveries when everyone is too afraid to challenge the status quo?
“It’s not a sustainable environment for a place to generate ideas,” Lukianoff warned. “And it’s something that should concern all Americans.”
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