The 2022 FIRE Report on Free Speech in Education

By Hugh Bouchelle, Editor Valley New Media

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) recently released its annual report documenting how speech and research, supposedly protected by the First Amendment, is too often violated by educational institutions. Below are excerpts from the study with my personal comments in italics. To read the study in its entirety press here: Scholars Under Fire: 2021 Year in Review – Full Text – FI

NEW REPORT: ‘Scholars Under Fire: 2021 Year in Review’ 

“Scholars Under Fire: 2021 Year in Review” documents last year’s attempts to penalize scholars for speech and research that, even when controversial, is protected by the First Amendment. FIRE documented 111 attempts to target scholars for their speech in 2021, all of which have been added to FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire Database. This reflects a dramatic increase from 30 attacks against scholars in 2015.
 
“Even one attack on free speech is one too many,” said FIRE Research Fellow Komi German, one of the report’s authors. “Our colleges should be built on the foundation that differences of opinion should give rise to debate and discussion — not sanctions and firings. If you asked someone which country had 111 scholars targeted in 2021, they might guess an authoritarian regime like China or Russia, not a democratic nation like the United States.”

Report: At least 111 professors targeted for their speech in 2021 (thefire.org)

The actual report: Scholars Under Fire: 2021 Year in Review – Full Text – FIRE (thefire.org)

Executive Summary

Over the past seven years, 537 incidents targeting a scholar for some form of professional sanction over constitutionally protected speech have occurred. Almost two-thirds of these targeting incidents have resulted in a sanction, and just over one-fifth have resulted in a scholar’s termination. Our initial report covered targeting incidents from 2015-20, with minimal discussion of the targeting incidents which occurred in 2021. This report primarily focuses on the targeting incidents that occurred in 2021. Key findings include:

• In 2021, 111 scholars were subjected to a targeting incident.
• Scholars were most often targeted for expressing a personal view or opinion on a controversial social issue (65 incidents: 59%).
• Over one-third of targeting incidents occurred because of a scholar’s scientific inquiry (20 incidents; 18%) or teaching practices (27 incidents; 24%).
• Almost half of scholars were targeted for expression regarding race or racial issues (54 incidents: 49%).
• Scholars were also likely to be targeted for their expression on hot-button issues such as partisanship (28 incidents; 25%) or gender (26 incidents; 23%), or for their views on institutional policy (28one thing for sure incidents; 25%).
• Targeting incidents occurred most often in the disciplines of law (12 incidents), English (12 incidents), political science (11 incidents), and medicine (9 incidents).
• More than 60% of targeting incidents resulted in some form of sanction being leveled against the scholar, including 28 investigations, 18 suspensions, and 14 terminations.
• Almost two-thirds of the incidents (76 incidents; 68%) came from individuals and groups to the political left of the scholar, compared to less than one-third (33 incidents; 30%) that came from the right of the scholar.
• Although more male than female scholars were targeted, 75% of targeted female scholars were sanctioned, whereas 57% of targeted male scholars were sanctioned. A similar pattern was evident when comparing white scholars, who were targeted more often, to nonwhite scholars, who were more likely to be sanctioned.

Besides the steady increase in the numbers of reported incidents shown in this study, I am also concerned that (according to the study) most of these attacks come from individuals to the left of the targeted scholars. While there has always been some level of resistance to controversial positions from both the left and the right – this recent explosion of overt attacks from those on the left shows us one thing – the tactic is working.

Education institutions, who have mired themselves in the woke agenda, are more than happy to allow and even encourage the abuse of the non-woke. With political correctness at their back, they can blame the silencing on the righteous indignation of abused minorities – now (in their eyes) justifiably turned violent. Besides, in their competition for student money they are afraid that if they dare even question these super aggressive complainers, the monster they created, might turn on them.

Meanwhile, the media, and the public, who for similar reasons have remained silent, have been unwitting supporters through their silence and fear of the monster. They too often have allowed these loud and aggressive movements to cower them into a compliant silence – all in homage to the unquestioned, unexamined, and mostly unwritten laws of wokeness.

When the general public stopped pushing back, the left smelled blood and redoubled their efforts. Recently, however, some (student parents for example) have started to push back, but it may be too little too late. The left now uses its opponent’s sense of guilt, which they (the woke crowd) manufactured out of myth and lies consistently and expertly – and are winning most of the time.

All charts are provided by FIRE as part of their report.

This chart (above) was especially telling as it identified discussions on “Race” as the primary target of attempts at silencing the opposition. The report does not specifically address Critical Race theory (CRT), but I wonder if CRT and other similar programs related to that theory are one of the subjects driving this spike. But will CRT finally be the bridge too far? Was it a mistake for the left to assume that because people have similar skin colors, they must think the same? What a silly racist assumption. And it may cost them.

The results of this study are disturbing. If society continues to demonize and silence competing voices, the next generation, raised in a world where free speech has tight boundaries defined by wokeness, will be a generation that has lost the natural drive to protect the freedoms given us by the Creator. Until corrected, society will cease to advance, and the dystopia of novels will become a reality.

As we who love freedom know, in a free society, any argument that cannot survive the scrutiny of opposition is untenable in the arena of ideas and will soon fade away. Only where freedom of speech has died can bad ideas live unfettered. They die not because they are politically incorrect but because they are wrong.

One of the principles of the FIRE organization is they protect free speech on both sides of the isle. If we demand free speech for ourselves, we must protect it for others. Am I wrong? Do you agree? Please comment below. Read the article and decide for yourself, while you are still allowed to do so.