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• FIRE’s new report finds half of faculty say mandatory DEI statement pledges in hiring are “rarely” or “never” acceptable, and two-thirds support institutional neutrality for colleges and universities. 
• Nearly half of conservative faculty (47%) report they feel unable to voice their opinions because of how others might react, compared to only a fifth of liberal faculty (19%).
• A third (35%) of faculty say they self-censor their written work, nearly four times the number of social scientists who said the same in 1954 at the height of McCarthyism. 

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 12, 2024  – A biology professor fired for saying X and Y chromosomes determine sex. A journalism professor’s tenure offer rescinded because of her outspoken support of DEI. A lecturer subjected to retaliation and a year-long investigation for making a parody “land acknowledgement.”

These are just some of the high-profile cases of politicized university censorship tracked by the FIREin recent years. But a new FIREsurvey of faculty across the country suggests these and other incidents have taken their toll, and that fear and self-censorship is rampant in academia.

FIRE surveyed 6,269 faculty members at 55 major colleges and universities over a three-month period for “Silence in the Classroom: The 2024 FIREFaculty Survey Report,” and discovered a fraught campus atmosphere in which wide swaths of those surveyed admitted to hiding their political views to avoid censure.

Among the many findings:

• 87% of faculty reported finding it difficult to have an open and honest conversation on campus about at least one hot button political topic.
• About 1 in 7 faculty members (14%) reported being disciplined or threatened with discipline for their teaching, research, academic discussions, or off-campus speech.
• 35% reported toning down their written work to avoid controversy. Shockingly, this is nearly four times the 9% of faculty who said this when the same question was .

“The McCarthy era is considered a low point in the history of American academic freedom with witchhunts, loyalty tests, and blacklisting in universities across the country,” said ������ýapp�ٷ�’s Manager of Polling and Analytics Nathan Honeycutt. “That today’s scholars feel less free to speak their minds than in the 1950s is a blistering indictment of the current state of academic freedom and discourse.”

Faculty reported the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the most challenging topic to have an open and honest discussion about, with 70% experiencing difficulty discussing it. Other hard-to-discuss issues include racial inequality (51%), transgender rights (49%), and affirmative action (47%). Only about 13% of faculty reported feeling comfortable discussing all 19 of the hot button issues asked about by ������ýapp�ٷ�.

Conservative faculty were much more likely than their liberal and moderate peers to report self-censoring. More than half — 55% — say they at least occasionally hide their political views in order to keep their jobs, compared to only 17% of liberal faculty. 

“There are very few conservative faculty,” explains Honeycutt. “If they’re not expressing their views, then students are even less exposed to conservative perspectives than one might expect based on the numbers.”

Respondents were also more likely to express skepticism that conservatives would be welcomed within their departments. While 71% of faculty said that a liberal individual would fit into their departments either “very” or “somewhat” well, only 20% said the same of a conservative individual.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, faculty without tenure were more likely to report self-censoring across the board than their tenured peers. But the difference was not vast: Between tenured and non tenured faculty, there was only a 9-point difference for hiding their political views, and a 5-point difference for likelihood of self-censoring in emails or during classroom discussions.

“Tenure is supposed to be an ironclad promise that a university will defend a professor against backlash from students and politicians alike,” said Komi Frey, director of faculty outreach. “The alarming number of tenured faculty who self-censor or fear losing their jobs over their speech suggests many believe their administrations won’t actually have their backs when push comes to shove.”

The faculty surveyed also expressed opposition to two controversial ways in which colleges and universities influence campus political discourse. Two-thirds (66%) of faculty say colleges and universities should practice institutional neutrality by not taking positions on political and social issues, with 70% saying the same of individual departments. Around half of faculty also say the use of statements pledging commitment to DEI is “never” or “rarely” acceptable in hiring (50%) or promotion and tenure decisions (52%), compared to only a third who say they are “sometimes” or “often” acceptable in hiring (34%) and promotion and tenure decisions (31%).

FIRE tracks colleges that adopt an official position of institutional neutrality. As of today, 25 institutions nationwide have done so.

Political statements from universities and colleges were unpopular across the political spectrum, with majorities of conservative (86%), moderate (76%), and liberal faculty (57%) opposed to the practice. Conservative faculty were also strongly opposed to mandatory DEI pledges (85%), as were a majority of moderate faculty (59%). Liberal faculty were split, with a little under half in favor (47%) of DEI pledges, but a third opposed (35%).

“It should surprise no one that conservative faculty are opposed to mandatory DEI pledges, but even a substantial bloc of liberal faculty are opposed to the practice as well,” said Honeycutt. “Given how divisive they are, it's likely these pledges persist in part due to self-censorship among faculty, who fear expressing opposition openly." 

The FIRE(������ýapp�ٷ�) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIREeducates Americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them.

The 2024 FIREFaculty Survey was fielded from March 4 to May 13, 2024. A national sample of 6,269 tenured, tenure track, and non-tenure track faculty participants was recruited from undergraduate facing departments at 55 U.S. colleges and universities. For each department, publicly available department web pages and online rosters were used to create a list of eligible faculty participants. Participants had to be clearly identified as active faculty within the department.

CONTACT:

Alex Griswold, Communications Campaign Manager, ������ýapp�ٷ�: 215-717-3473; media@thefire.org