Faith
Scholars Face Isolation for Free Speech Stands
Faith Facts
- Scholars punished for expressing controversial views face severe emotional and professional hardships.
- Most universities and faculty unions offer scant public support to academics targeted for their beliefs.
- Conservative professors receive less support from university colleagues compared to their liberal peers.
America’s colleges should be bright beacons of truth, but a new survey reveals that academics brave enough to speak unpopular truths often find themselves abandoned and alone. Faculty who suffered backlash for protected speech describe heartache, professional loss, and a chilling silence from their institutions.
FIRE’s survey highlights that nearly all respondents experienced negative effects, with trauma reaching into both their personal and professional lives. Even as universities promise free expression, many offer little actual support when biblical principles and Christian values are at stake.
“Cancellation campaigns are often wrapped in the language of preventing ‘emotional harm,’” said FIRE’s Manager of Polling and Analytics Nathan Honeycutt. “But our survey shows that it’s the mobs themselves that inflict lasting mental anguish on academics, many of whom still suffer the consequences long after the controversy subsided.”
Professors shared their struggles, such as receiving violent threats, experiencing panic attacks, and fearing for their families’ safety. The devastating emotional toll points to an academy that punishes those who dare to voice convictions rooted in faith and tradition.
University and faculty union silence leaves many isolated, with just 11% of targeted scholars reporting support from administrators, and only 21% citing any public backing from their union. Even private encouragement fails to make up for the lack of public courage from colleagues in defending freedom of conscience.
“Support for academic freedom should never depend on the views being expressed,” said Sean Stevens, FIRE’s chief research advisor. “But our survey shows that’s exactly what’s happening.”
Faithful guardians of liberty know that moral courage is vital to maintain true freedom. Patriotic Americans must pray for those persecuted for speaking truth, and continually affirm the God-given right to freely express biblical convictions in every sphere of public life.