Faculty unions rarely defend professors targeted for speech: SURVEY
The survey reveals an ideological gap as just 7 percent of conservative scholars reported union support, compared to 29 percent of liberal scholars.
'Support for academic freedom should never depend on the views being expressed, but our survey shows that’s exactly what’s happening,' said FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens.
Faculty unions and universities offer little public support to professors sanctioned for their speech, according to a recent survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
The report, Sanctioned Scholars: The Price of Speaking Freely in Today’s Academy, surveyed 209 scholars from FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire database who were targeted between 2020 and 2024.
Only 21 percent reported receiving “moderate or greater” public support from their faculty unions, and just 11 percent said they received such support from their university administrations.
[RELATED: Prof fired for speech wins major settlement in academic-freedom case]
Nearly 94 percent of scholars surveyed reported negative impacts from being targeted. About 65 percent experienced emotional distress, 40 percent were shunned by colleagues, and 20 percent lost their jobs.
“Support for academic freedom should never depend on the views being expressed, but our survey shows that’s exactly what’s happening,” FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said in the report. “If faculty unions and institutions of higher learning won’t stand by scholars in their moments of crisis, they can’t claim to stand for free speech and inquiry.”
The survey reveals an ideological gap as well: just 7 percent of conservative scholars reported union support, compared to 29 percent of liberal scholars. Conservative scholars were significantly more likely to receive support from the general public than from their own institutions, which remain dominated by left-leaning faculty and administrators.
[RELATED: Survey: conservative students self-censor to avoid backlash from professors]
FIRE has warned that conditions are deteriorating.
In a statement to Campus Reform, FIRE’s research director, Nathan Honeycutt, said that 2025 is on track to be a record year for sanctions, especially involving actions from government officials. Honeycutt told Campus Reform that FIRE hopes to see a shift where faculty, unions, and peers actively defend those under fire.
“So many in the academy are afraid to speak up, and these fears are further compounded, and campus speech climates further chilled, when scholars who are targeted are left to fend for themselves,” Honeycutt stated.
