Profs in fear of cancel culture

A new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) reveals professors are shutting their mouths and biting their tongues out of fear of being canceled.

In its newly released report “The Academic Mind in 2022,” FIRE surveyed nearly 1,500 professors from colleges and universities across the country. The results show mass self-censorship and a widespread fear that saying the wrong thing could cost them their reputations — or even their jobs.

“I’ve been defending free speech on campus for 22 years now, and it was clear that things have been getting much worse over the past couple years,” FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff said. “But looking at these numbers, it’s even worse than I thought.”

More than half (52%) of professors reported being “afraid of losing their jobs or reputations because someone misunderstands something they said or did, takes it out of context, or posts something from their past online.”

Some 72% of conservative faculty members and 56% of moderates felt this way, while 40% of liberal faculty members did. Roughly onethird (34%) said they often feel they cannot express their opinions because of how students, colleagues or school administration might respond.

Lukianoff says he was especially shocked to learn 11% of faculty members say they’ve either been disciplined or threatened with discipline by administrators for what they taught in the classroom. An additional 4% were threatened or punished for research, academic talks or work in nonacademic publications.