by James A. Bacon
More than a third (35%) of tenured and tenure-track faculty at 55 of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities say they have toned down their writing for fear of engendering controversy, according to a new survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). That compares to 9% during the Red Scare of the 1950s.
More than a quarter (27%) say they feel unable to speak freely for fear of offending someone, and 40% say they worry about damaging their reputations, notes FIRE in its report, “Silence in the Classroom.”
Sadly, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, both covered by the survey were no exceptions to the rule. At Virginia Tech, 22% of faculty members say they hide their political beliefs from colleagues “very often” or “fairly often. At UVA, the figure is 13%.
Conservatives are most afraid to speak their minds, although reluctance to freely share one’s mind is found across the ideological spectrum.
Perhaps the reason Virginia Tech profs are more timid about revealing their political sympathies than at UVA is that there are more self-described conservatives (26%) and moderates (11%) in the faculty there than at UVA (19% and 15% respectively).
Non-tenured faculty, who enjoy less job security, are more scared than tenured faculty.
Conservative, non-tenured faculty? FIRE didn’t break that group out, but I expect they’d describe themselves as terrified to speak out.
One professor at the University of Virginia told FIRE that when the university decided to install a DEI administrator, “our Dean stated flatly, and publicly, that they wished they could do away with tenure protections and fire anyone who disagreed.”
As a member of the Jefferson Council, I confess that I find the survey somewhat hopeful. I’m not the least surprised that large swaths of the faculty are intimidated. But I’m encouraged that an entire third of UVA respondents identifies as conservative or moderate. (That’s based on 118 survey responses at UVA.)
The situation at Mr. Jefferson’s University may not be as far gone as I’d feared. There may well be a tipping point at which conservatives, libertarians, moderates, old-fashioned liberals and free thinkers might reassert themselves if the Board of Visitors was willing to provide a little cover.
Here follow the questionnaire responses for UVA and Tech:
James A. Bacon is contributing editor to The Jefferson Council.
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