Academic freedom in higher education is facing increased scrutiny at colleges and universities nationwide.
It’s a story about campuses big and small, public and private, liberal and conservative, with few, if any, geographic boundaries.
“When it comes to higher education, I don’t know if there are any safe places,” Karma Chavez, the chair of the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas, Austin, told the Center for Public Integrity for a story on tenure attacks.
Lawmakers in the South and Midwest are targeting those tenure protections that allow professors to teach, address social and political controversies and conduct research without fear or retribution.
Colleges on the East and West coasts have proposed or adopted policies that would restrict political speech by faculty and limit their abilities to offer opinions on contentious issues such as the Israel-Hamas war.
Dozens of Republican-led states have enacted or debated laws that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campuses in efforts to stifle teaching and questions about race, identity and history.
PEN America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for free expression, has labeled the onslaught focused on public schools and higher education the “Ed Scare,” a reference to McCarthyism and the “Red Scare” of the 1940s and 1950s.
The organization wrote, “Taken as a whole, it is a multi-faceted campaign to chill the freedom to read, learn, and think in public education through legislation and intimidation.”
However, attacks on academic freedom aren’t restricted to public universities. Barnard College, a private liberal arts institution in New York City, has drawn criticism from free speech advocates for a policy that prohibits “political statements” on university websites.
To help college journalists cover what’s happening on their campuses, the Center for Public Integrity has developed a guide that offers advice on finding stories, obtaining public records and accessing data, with context on the history of academic freedom.
We culled some of the tips from our own reporting. Public Integrity has spent months digging into the issue, revealing that the debate over the future of higher education is not reserved for ivory towers; there are real-life consequences.
Efforts to ban diversity, equity and inclusion practices, for instance, could affect coursework in every academic department on college campuses, including medical schools.
“Unequal Treatment,” a 2003 report from a panel of experts convened by Congress, spawned many of the existing efforts to address racial health disparities.
Journalist Danielle McLean talked to faculty members and healthcare advocates across Florida who fear that anti-DEI laws will harm the training of future doctors, stalling or derailing progress on decades-long efforts to provide better patient care.
Zinzi Bailey, a social epidemiologist, left the University of Miami last fall to work at the University of Minnesota. She said Florida’s efforts to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts played a role in her decision to leave.
While the laws didn’t technically apply to the University of Miami, a private institution, she was concerned about support for her work on structural racism in health care and similar research because the university received money and support from the state.
“You can’t talk about disparities without being particularly vocal about structural racism,” Bailey said.
Legislation in Florida and other states could also make it more challenging to provide gender-affirming care for transgender patients and limit discussion of abortion rights, posing an ethical dilemma for doctors who take an oath to “do no harm.”
Medical school leaders are banding together to strategize on providing the necessary training without violating laws, said Dr. David Acosta, the Association of American Medical Colleges’ chief diversity and inclusion officer.
Without the training, “there are going to be some problems,” said Dr. William McDade, chief for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which accredits medical residency programs.
Problems could occur outside the classroom as well.
In some communities, colleges and universities are economic engines: the top employers in the region and magnets for millions of dollars in research funding that can attract private companies and investment.
Journalist Matt Krupnick detailed how efforts by state lawmakers to crack down on tenure and the teaching of controversial topics could make it more difficult for institutions in states such as Florida and Texas to recruit and retain talented faculty members. He surveyed the country, finding at least six other states that passed or proposed similar legislation.
There’s also the fear that colleges will have trouble finding adjunct and part-time faculty, who may seek jobs in states with what they perceive as more friendly climates.
Professors and faculty organizations argued that states targeting tenure stand to lose more than whatever control they gain over what’s happening on campus.
“They’re harming higher education, and higher education exists for the public good,” said Jim Klein, a history professor and faculty leader at Del Mar College, a community college in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Higher education is a hotly debated topic, and recent polls from Gallup and the Teachers College at Columbia University indicate that confidence in public education is declining.
Student journalists are well-positioned to show what’s happening on campuses, why it is important and the existing challenges. Those stories offer a dose of reality amid alarmist rhetoric that paints change and diversity of thought with broad strokes.