Study Finds Women Faculty Are More Likely Than Men to Support Limits on Free Speech on Campus

A new analysis of data from a survey on free speech conducted by Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression found that women faculty members were more likely than their male colleagues to consider limits on free expression. The analysis was conducted by Samuel J. Adams, a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.

Dr. Adams found that 51 percent of women faculty reported that they could envision shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus as being acceptable, compared to just 39 percent of men.

Almost a third of female faculty reported that they would be either somewhat or very uncomfortable having lunch with a colleague who was a supporter of former President Trump, while just 14 percent of male faculty reported the same.

Nearly half of the female faculty believe their male counterparts should face some sort of sanction if they decline to sign a statement supporting diversity. Only 26 percent of male faculty members agreed.

Professor Adams concludes that “in a world of constant self-censorship, it is college professors who have the fiduciary and sacred duty to promote open debate, discourse, and dialogue amongst themselves and their students. Female faculty are far less likely than their male counterparts to support these hallowed and critical practices, and higher education will suffer as a result.”

WIAReport would be interested to hear readers’ comments on this study.