College faculty are more likely to self-censor now than at the height of McCarthyism

https://www.thefire.org/news/college-faculty-are-more-likely-self-censor-now-height-mccarthyism

QUOTE

This year, FIRE surveyed 6,269 faculty members at 55 major colleges and universities for “Silence in the Classroom: The 2024 FIRE Faculty Survey Report,” the largest faculty free speech survey ever performed.

What we found shocked even us here at FIRE. A deeply entrenched atmosphere of silence and fear is endemic across higher education. 

We found that self-censorship on US campuses is currently four times worse than it was at the height of the McCarthy era. Today, 35% of faculty say they have toned down their written work for fear of causing controversy. In a major survey conducted in 1954, the height of McCarthyism, by the sociologists Paul Lazarsfeld and Wagner Thielens, only 9% of social scientists said the same. 

In fact, the problem is so bad that some academics were afraid even to respond to our already anonymous survey for fear of retaliation. Some asked us by email, or in their free response replies, to keep certain details they shared private. Some asked us to direct all correspondence to a private personal email. Others reached out beforehand just to confirm the results would truly be anonymous. Still others simply refused to speak at all.

For some, the danger is clear and concrete. As one professor wrote, “I am not at liberty to even share anonymously for fear of retribution.”

For others, it’s more nebulous, but the fear is no less real. 

“I almost avoided filling out the survey for fear of losing my job somehow‚” one professor told us, adding that they “waited about two weeks before getting the courage to take the risk.”

It is totally unacceptable that this is a reality on today’s campuses.

For what I’m paid to teach the courses that I do, it’s just not enough to outweigh the risk of potential public