The Campus Plan calls for expanding faculty outreach and engagement with the public. Yet deepening political polarization and the role of social media in quickly spreading disinformation and inflammatory rhetoric has led to increased incidence of public harassment and defamation of faculty for their research, scholarly public engagement and positions taken in the classroom. This has also led to the publicization of internal conflicts related to grading policies and campus activities.
This trend affects faculty across disciplines due to the politicization of science as a whole and an anti-intellectual agenda targeting the “academic elite.” Well-funded organizations have evolved, with the mission of surveilling the voices of faculty, with the overall aim of undermining public support for higher education. Women, faculty of color, and those who speak out on issues of racial, gender, and economic justice are most often targeted.
While most systematic attacks in recent years come from the political right, due to well organized funding, threats to faculty free speech and academic freedom come from the left as well, often among internal constituents. Climate change, reproductive rights, and public health scholarship is also commonly under attack, in addition to ongoing harassment of professors who conduct ethical and institution-approved research on animals. In some states, legislatures have unjustifiably defined some research and teaching topics as “subversive concepts” with educational gag orders, threatening budgetary cuts to public universities. Faculty who conduct research on health, the environment, and social and economic inequality may also face cuts to federal grants. This unwarranted interference threatens the health of higher education and its students and ultimately undermines the common good. Academic freedom is at stake and an anxious climate of self-censorship for faculty and students must be avoided.
The university fully acknowledges faculty’s right to academic freedom, regardless of politics. The university encourages victims of attacks not to be intimidated and to continue teaching, researching, and publicly discussing those issues over which they have spent their careers building expertise.
Yet, it is important that faculty feel safe and supported as they conduct their everyday work life. That's what this toolkit is for.
These resources were developed by Jennifer Lundquist, Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Sociology, in consultation with the Academic Freedom Taskforce of the Faculty Senate.
For additional information please reference:
- Appendix 1: Institutional Response Examples
- Appendix 2: FOIA Request Details
- Appendix 3: How to Protect Classroom Materials
- Appendix 4: Resources
The Academic Freedom Crisis Toolkit is licensed under CC-BY 4.0, by the University of Massachusetts Office of Faculty Development, 2024. Cite to Jennifer Lundquist and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of Faculty Development, “Academic Freedom Crisis Toolkit.”