Academia are First Amendment averse

From The College Fix, As number of women rises in higher ed, free speech declines on campuses: survey by Noelle Fitchett-Tamu.  

As the number of women in higher education continues to rise, free speech on college campuses declines, said Professor Samuel Abrams, a social scientist at Sarah Lawrence College.

Abrams determined the trend by analyzing the results of a nationwide survey of faculty conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, pointing out that compared to male counterparts, female scholars are more likely to agree with suppressing and punishing unpopular speech.

“Fifty-one percent of women professors 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,” Abrams wrote in a March 24 piece for the American Enterprise Institute, where he serves as a senior fellow.

Since this survey appears to only be professors, I suspect that the situation is even worse than these numbers indicate.  The administration of universities are now some 55% of the employee base and they are notoriously even more repressive than professors.  

What struck me though was a contextual discrepancy.  Abrams is emphasizing, correctly, that there is a ten point gap with fifty percent of female scholars supporting speech repression in comparison to only forty percent of male professors.  Yes, there is a gap.

To me, the more notable gap is between the professors and the American citizenry.  45% of professors support repressing speech they do not like. 

What is the comparable figure for American citizens, for whom the First Amendment has been an animating part of the culture of the nation.  

Fortunately a study was done at the beginning of this past year, Free speech for all? Poll reveals Americans' views on free expression post-2020.  The subheading is Landmark survey by Knight Foundation and Ipsos reveals where Americans agree and disagree on free speech and the First Amendment.  

The results?

More than nine in 10 Americans (91%) agree that "protecting free speech is an important part of American democracy."

Similarly, 90% of Americans agree that "people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions."

Significant majorities believe "free speech rights help marginalized groups be heard" (86%) and that "having different points of view, including those that are 'bad' or offensive to some, promotes healthy debate in society" (77%).

As a consequence, based on these surveys, approximately 85% of Americans have a firm commitment to free speech.  In contrast, only 55% (or lower) of academia supports free speech.  

Forget a 10% male-female gap.  A 30% gap between Americans and Academia is worth investigating.  And it is certainly alarming.  However, it is reassuring that Americans are so committed.  If only we could get academia to philosophically look like America.  That doesn't seem too much to ask for.