The Academic Mind 2022: What Faculty Think About Free Expression and Academic Freedom on Campus
FIRE surveyed nearly 1500 faculty at four-year U.S. colleges and universities regarding their attitudes on free expression and academic freedom. While their support for free speech principles outweighs that of students (“faculty are markedly more tolerant than the students they teach”), what is happening to faculty is cause for serious concern—”A majority of faculty worry about losing their jobs or reputations because someone misrepresents their words. A third self-censor out of concern over the responses of staff, students or administrators. Moreover, a significant portion of faculty support punishing their colleagues in softer ways that can chill expression.”
Few key findings:
“Roughly one-in-10 (11%) faculty reported being disciplined or threatened with discipline because of their teaching, while 4% reported facing these consequences for their research, academic talks, or non-academic publications.”
“(52%) reported being worried about losing their jobs or reputation because someone misunderstands something they have said or done, takes it out of context, or posts something from their past online. Almost three-quarters of conservative faculty (72%), 56% of moderate faculty, and 40% of liberal faculty reported feeling this way.”
“One-third (34%) of faculty said they often feel they can not express their opinions on a subject because of how students, colleagues, or the administration would respond.”
Related:
More than half of college professors bite their tongues over cancel culture fears (NY Post, 2/28/23)
