(The Center Square) – The majority of faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said they believe that academic freedom is secure on campus.
This is according to the “Silence in the Classroom: The 2024 FIRE Faculty Survey Report,” which was conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting free speech on college campuses.
Of the 115 faculty surveyed, 70% said they believe that academic freedom on campus is either completely, very, or somewhat secure.
This is slightly higher than the national average of 64% of all faculty surveyed.
FIRE’s survey polled 6,269 faculty members at 55 major colleges and universities over a three-month period. According to FIRE, faculty reported a “fraught campus atmosphere in which wide swaths of those surveyed admitted to hiding their political views to avoid censure.”
At the University of Colorado, the majority of faculty, 67%, said they believe the administration protects free speech on campus.
The survey also took a special look at the diversity, equity and inclusion movement and how faculty view it.
The University of Colorado’s DEI department states that advancing DEI is “not the responsibility of a single campus unit, but of the entire campus community.” And, even as backlash is growing against DEI initiatives in higher education, the school’s recently-appointed chancellor has made diversity a “clear obligation” for the college.
Notably, while 61% of the faculty identified themselves as liberal, 52% of the respondents also said they believe DEI statements are never or rarely justifiable in the hiring process. That is aligned with the national average of 50%.
DEI is just one part of the broader conversation happening in higher education about freedom of speech.
The FIRE survey also found the majority of faculty listed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, racial inequality, and transgender rights as the hardest topics to discuss on Colorado’s campus.
While 51% of faculty said they never feel like they must hide their political beliefs from other faculty to keep their jobs, 40% did say they have felt the need to tone down something they wrote to avoid controversy.
Thirty-one percent said they occasionally or often hide their political beliefs from other faculty to keep their jobs. That is just slightly higher than the national average of 29%.
