Texas professors self-censor for fear of retaliation, survey found

At least a third of respondents at UT-Austin, UT-Dallas and Texas A&M said they’re not sure administrators at their universities protect free speech on campus.

by Kate McGee, for The Texas Tribune
Dec. 12, 2024

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

University professors across the political spectrum in Texas are preemptively self-censoring themselves for fear of damaging their reputations or losing their jobs, according to a new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a First Amendment advocacy group.

More than 6,200 professors from across the country responded to the survey on the climate of free speech and academic freedom on their campuses, one of the largest surveys of its kind, according to FIRE. Respondents included more than 200 professors at the University of Texas at Austin, nearly 50 at the University of Texas at Dallas and more than 165 at Texas A&M University in College Station.

According to survey results, 35% of all respondents said they recently toned down their writing for fear of controversy and 27% felt unable to speak freely for fear of how students or administrators might respond. Nearly a quarter of faculty worry about losing their jobs over a misunderstanding.

The worries were higher among faculty at Texas universities. At UT-Austin, more than half of the faculty respondents said they occasionally or often do not share their opinions because they worry how others might respond. Nearly half of faculty respondents at UT-Dallas said they had toned down their writing to avoid pushback.

“Faculty are not conflating self-censorship with being polite or professional — that would be categorically different,” the report stated. “Rather, consistent proportions of faculty report that they are likely to refrain from sharing their views in various professional and conversational contexts for fear of social, professional, legal, or violent consequences.”

FIRE said this climate is unsustainable for higher education.

“The academy needs courageous faculty who are not afraid to research, write about, or teach topics that some may shy away from because they are labeled as controversial — to ask and investigate unasked and unanswered questions,” the report concludes. “And the academy needs more faculty who are not afraid to support colleagues who themselves are afraid, or who have been targeted and have come under fire for their speech or academic endeavors. Consistent support from institutional administrations would not hurt either.”

According to the report, one faculty member at Texas A&M said they are actively avoiding aspects of the job due to the climate on campus.

“I am starting (for the first time in my career) to censor myself out of a desire for self-preservation,” the faculty member told FIRE. “I say nothing at all in faculty meetings now, if I attend at all.”

A UT-Austin professor said they feel pressure to conceal certain opinions.

“The atmosphere in certain academic units can be cult-like and fascistic and I really feel I have to pick my battles,” the professor said.

The report highlighted an incident at Texas A&M last year in which the school watered down a job offer to Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor, after the Board of Regents and alumni groups criticized her previous employers, her diversity, equity and inclusion work and her research on race.

McElroy decided to decline the offer and stay at her current job at UT-Austin after an A&M administrator told her he could not protect her if the regents wanted to terminate her. The Texas A&M System paid her a $1 million settlement  after acknowledging mistakes were made during the hiring process.

FIRE’s survey found self-censorship was more prevalent among conservative faculty. Around 55% of faculty who identified themselves as conservative reported they self-censor, compared to 17% of faculty who said they were liberal. The survey also found that faculty are more likely to be skeptical of conservative peers, indicating in the survey that a conservative faculty member would be a poor fit in their department.

Two-thirds of respondents said universities should not take positions on political and social issues. That number was higher in Texas. Around 70% of the faculty respondents at Texas A&M, UT-Austin and UT-Dallas supported institutional neutrality.

Earlier this year, the University of Texas System Board of Regents adopted an institutional neutrality policy after UT-Austin became ground zero in Texas for clashes over the Israel-Hamas war. Around 70% of survey respondents said the conflict was the most difficult issue to discuss on the flagship campus, along with racial inequality and transgender rights. At Texas A&M, the three more difficult issues for faculty to discuss on campus were racial inequality, trans rights and abortion.

Overall, half of the faculty who responded to the survey said it is rarely or never justified to require job candidates to submit diversity statements, written statements in which job seekers explain how they might support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts if hired. Last legislative session, Texas lawmakers banned diversity statements at public colleges and universities as part of Senate Bill 17, the law that eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion offices on campuses.

Many survey respondents said they don’t believe administrators at their universities will push back against governing boards or politicians to protect free speech on campus.

At Texas A&M, 45% of respondents felt academic freedom — the longstanding principle that protects faculty’s ability to pursue teaching and research activities without political interference — was somewhat secure on campus. More than a third of respondents said they’re not sure A&M administrators would protect free speech on campus.

Last year, Texas A&M University System leaders directed the school to put a professor on paid administrative leave after a well-connected student complained that the professor allegedly Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during a lecture. Text messages showed Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp directed the system’s flagship university to put the professor on paid administrative leave while school officials investigated the complaint. He also updated the lieutenant governor on the status of the investigation, which eventually found that the complaint was unsubstantiated. Faculty said the incident created a chilling effect on campus.

FIRE’s survey comes as Texas faculty are gearing up for another legislative session in which they expect Republican lawmakers to try and curtail their power on campus. Patrick has asked lawmakers to limit the influence on campuses of faculty senates, which provide input on their universities’ curriculum and hiring decisions.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University System, University of Texas - Dallas, University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas System have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.