EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION: Most professors don’t plan to leave over limits on teaching radical concepts
“Faculty actually are trying to flee red states,” claims Inside Higher Ed.
Yet, the results are not as exciting as the reporter may wish them to be.
According to a survey from consulting group Ithaka S+R, an overwhelming majority of professors don’t plan to leave their Republican-led state over laws restricting the teaching of DEI at public universities.
“The new data on relocating researchers underpins anecdotal stories about faculty members fleeing red states in search of greater academic freedom,” reporter Emma Whitford claims.
But according to the actual survey, “10 percent of faculty from states with laws restricting academic speech reported trying to find out-of-state academic positions, and 6 percent reported seeking to leave the academy.”
“Overall, 11 percent of all respondents indicated that they were seeking to leave the academy or obtain an academic position in another state or country” the survey also found.
Even those numbers need further context, as the survey heavily sampled social science professors who would be most likely to be affected by prohibitions on teaching things like all white people are privileged because of the color of their skin. In total, 806 of the 4003 respondents, or about twenty percent, were social science professors.
To its credit, Inside Higher Ed acknowledged that Democrat-led states may also be enacting policies disfavored by professors. “It’s not as if all of the universities in more welcoming states are building out their women’s studies programs,” Dominique Baker, a University of Delaware professor, told the publication.
“There are lots of quote-unquote ‘blue states’ making bananas cuts to their humanities programs,” Baker said.
A different reporter at Inside Higher Ed, Ryan Quinn, has expressed skepticism about an exodus.
Furthermore, the 10 percent of professors considering moving to a different state is about in line with data on faculty turnover. A university human resources group found the turnover rate in the 2023-24 school year was “7% for tenure-track and 11% for non-tenure-track faculty.”
Even if some professors are leaving Texas or Florida because they no longer feel supported teaching “Critical Race Theory approaches to queerness in the Middle East” or some other nonsense class, it is nothing to fret about. These professors were not adding to the quality of the school and were likely more of a liability than an asset.
State lawmakers and education officials exercise proper and prudent authority when they place limits on what is being subsidized by hardworking taxpayers.
If a few professors are not happy about that, then good riddance.
