‘It’s worse than McCarthyism.’ Three quarters of conservative academics fear being sacked for their views; growing numbers self-censor in an era of forced ‘diversity’ statements

US academics increasingly bite their tongues for fear of losing their jobs — and conservative scholars feel the heat more than their liberal counterparts, a shock campus survey has revealed.

Research by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech group, found that 52 percent of professors said they worried about losing their jobs or reputations because of being misunderstood or taken out of context.

Those on the right feel it the most — 72 percent of conservative respondents feared being canned for their views, compared to 56 percent of moderates and 40 percent of liberals.

It’s many times worse than during the anti-Communist Red Scare purge of US institutions in the 1950s, when Sen Joseph McCarthy famously probed his targets for subversion and espionage, researchers said. 

FIRE researcher Nathan Honeycutt warned of a chilling wave across academia.

As part of his shake-up of education in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis seeks to ban colleges from teaching critical race theory (CRT) and radical gender ideology — to the chagrin of some professors and free speech advocates   

‘When professors across the political spectrum become terrified of losing their jobs for exercising their rights, true academic inquiry and diversity of thought become nearly impossible,’ said Honeycutt.

The poll of nearly 1,500 US faculty members comes as universities become increasingly polarized, and campaigners and politicians from left and right turn campuses into front lines on America’s culture wars.

New hires complain about having to submit diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) statements for jobs, while liberal tutors in Florida say they’ve been forced to stop teaching about racism and gender because of rules imposed under Republican Gov Ron DeSantis.

Notable victims include former Hamline University tutor Erika López Prater, who was cut by the Minnesota school after a Muslim student complained about her showing a 14th-century painting of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a lesson on Islamic art — even though she had warned students in advance.

Meanwhile, Dr. Richard Lowery, a tenured professor at the University of Texas in Austin, has sued the school, saying administrators threatened his job for saying critical race theory (CRT) had ‘no scientific basis.’

FIRE’s 54-page report, The Academic Mind in 2022, was released on Tuesday and found that roughly three-in-five respondents believed that ‘a university professor should be free to express any of their ideas or convictions on any subject.’

But the reality at American schools is very different, with 11 percent of faculty describing being disciplined or threatened with such because of their teaching, and 4 percent facing the same for their research or academic talks.

At the other end, about a third of professors supported college officials opening formal investigations into their colleagues who made controversial statements — showing how some academics seek to cancel each other.

DEI statements have become increasingly common in universities in recent years and by some counts are required for a fifth of academic posts. Such states as Florida and Texas have introduced laws to ban mandatory DEI statements.

Survey respondents were evenly split on such statements — 50 percent said they were justifiable requirements, while the other half of respondents called them an ideological litmus test that violates academic freedom.

Liberal women scholars supported them more than conservative men. Some 57 percent of liberal scholars said that improving political diversity was less important than advancing race and gender diversity on campus.

Faculty leaders at Hamline University – which dismissed art history instructor Erika López Prater (pictured right) – have overwhelmingly called for the university president Fayneese Miller (pictured left) to resign

Aram Wedatalla complained to the school, claiming she’d been ‘blindsided’ by the image of the Prophet Muhammad despite Professor Prater giving the class multiple warnings that she intended to show it

Researchers noted that the survey suffered from a low response rate from among FIRE’s own conservative-leaning membership.

The non-profit civil liberties group earlier this month named Hamline University has as one of America’s worst colleges for free speech in the wake of the prophet Muhammad sacking scandal.

The other schools that made the top ten include transgender swimming star Lia Thomas’ University of Pennsylvania, which was cited for trying to silence a professor’s anti-immigration and anti-affirmative action comments.

The University of Oregon is included on the list for forcing staff members to ‘pledge allegiance’ to ‘diversity, equity and inclusion.’ The prestigious Texas A&M also made the top ten after school officials began taking control of traditionally student-run events on campus.