What’s New
More than a third of faculty members feel like they have less academic freedom than they did six or seven years ago.
The data comes from a report released Wednesday by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, or AAC&U, which teamed up with the American Association of University Professors to survey 8,458 instructors from two- and four-year colleges on how they perceive the state of academic freedom and civil discourse on their campuses.
The report comes at a time when several states have passed laws taking aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, leading many free-speech advocates and those who work in academe to worry that government overreach is threatening academic freedom. The Israel-Hamas war has also tested the limits of what speech and activism are protected under the principles of academic freedom.
The Details
A majority of faculty members reported that they at least occasionally refrain from using certain words out of fear that they might offend colleagues or students.
“What we saw consistently throughout the report was regardless of who faculty were talking to — colleagues, students, administrators, stakeholders on their campus — faculty have a running narrative in their mind about what they can or cannot say, or at least they’re mindful of that,” said Ashley Finley, vice president for research and senior advisor to the president for the AAC&U.
More than a third of faculty members said they feel more constrained, compared to six or seven years ago, in their ability to speak freely while teaching, participating in faculty governance, or just living as a citizen. Faculty members are also feeling the heat from those outside campus — about a third of respondents, on average, believe that there is now more pressure from trustees, state lawmakers, and donors to avoid negative publicity. Professors were most likely to see their chief academic officers, like a dean or provost, as having the most influence in determining how much their academic freedom was protected.
The survey segmented respondents based on their level of security at their college and whether they lived in a state that has passed “divisive concepts” laws. A majority of faculty members who live in those states said they follow news about such legislation as much as other media topics, a finding that Finley said indicates a high level of concern about the issue. “The idea that you’ve got half of faculty feeling this way demands attention,” she said.
Faculty members were also asked about their openness to diverse viewpoints, especially controversial ones. On average, two out of five reported that controversial topics, like gun control and abortion, were not relevant to their class. Of the faculty members who taught courses in which contentious topics were relevant, about 50 percent said they discussed them. An overwhelming majority, about 93 percent, said that professors should invite student perspectives from all sides of an issue.
The Backdrop
The AAC&U’s survey with the AAUP was inspired by a study on academic freedom conducted by the late sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld during the McCarthy era. The parallel often drawn between the current state of academic freedom and that of the Second Red Scare led Finley and her co-author, Hans-Jörg Tiede, to craft a new study based on Lazarsfeld’s. The study’s introduction says that, 70 years later, “it is sobering that a number of Lazarsfeld’s original questions still ring true.”
While some things are the same, many others have changed, Finley says, like the advent of social media and rise of disinformation. Nearly half of faculty members worry students will share ideas or statements from their courses out of context, and a third are concerned that students will record lectures without their consent. “Those things have heightened these issues significantly,” she said.
The report concludes with five recommendations, one of them being that college leaders better support faculty mental health. “I hope campuses will take into consideration the mental energy that it takes for faculty to constantly have this draining battery in the back of their minds — this running awareness and sensitivity to how they speak and the language they can use,” Finley said.
The political climate’s toll on faculty morale has been observed elsewhere. A study of nearly 3,000 professors last year in several Southern states found that six in 10 wouldn’t recommend working in their states.
What to Look For
The status of academic freedom is likely to be even more hotly contested in the months and years to come. While administrators at colleges in some states have been criticized for taking an expansive view of how laws curtailing DEI efforts can apply to the classroom, the incoming Trump administration has some professors worrying that threats to academic freedom will further intensify.
