The Newest Under-the-Radar Attack on Academic Freedom

[Celerity]

The next frontier for state-led university censorship is looming and the consequences would go far beyond just risks to free expression.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-newest-under-the-radar-attack-on-academic-freedom

https://archive.li/lxjvN



The legislative war on college and university free speech has sadly become a persistent feature of the policymaking process in statehouses across the country. Another round of state legislative sessions has come and gone and with it many new proposals that would impose extensive restrictions on what can be taught in higher education classrooms. Since January 2021, state governments have introduced 99 educational gag orders focused on higher education and dozens of other censorious higher ed restrictions as part of what PEN America has dubbed the “Ed Scare”—a sweeping nationwide campaign to upend the integrity and autonomy of educational institutions in favor of state dictates on what content and curricula are appropriate in schools.

This drive to muzzle core questions about race, identity, and history has triggered a broad counter-movement, as former higher education presidents, faculty, students, and grassroots communities have joined hands to preserve the crown jewel of American democracy: a welcoming, independent higher education system that enables diverse viewpoints and challenging ideas to flourish. Their efforts to draw attention to and fight back against legislative efforts to censor our campuses have been invaluable. There is another key factor, however, that has flown under the radar yet been a vital bulwark against state censorship: the voice of university accreditation agencies.

Unfortunately, those same agencies are now the target of the latest attacks on campus free expression. Accreditation is a largely unknown but vital element of the higher education system. The seven regional accreditation agencies exist to ensure a basic standard of educational quality and a basic commitment to core principles like graduation rates, curricular standards, and sound institutional management. They also ensure that colleges and universities protect the academic freedom of faculty and resist undue political interference from the government. If an institution fails to uphold these standards, it can lose accreditation, which then costs its students access to federal financial loans, Pell Grants, and work-study funds, all tied to accreditation by federal law. In addition, many employers and licensing boards withhold recognition of degrees granted by unaccredited colleges.



Accrediting agencies are a powerful tool for protecting academic freedom. In North Dakota, for example, a legislative effort to impose harsh limits on tenure protections was defeated after a former chancellor of the state’s university system publicly aired his concerns that political interference could lead to loss of accreditation. Meanwhile, in both Texas and Ohio, legislators carved out important exceptions to their proposals to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in order to meet accreditors’ basic DEI standards. And prominent advocates across the higher education space, including the accrediting agencies themselves, have noted that educational gag orders, or laws that restrict what can be taught in schools, chill free speech, and violate academic freedom. That’s exactly why accreditors are now under attack.

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[Sympthsical]

1. This is something of an "I told you so" situation for me

I've argued for years that free expression and academic diversity and ideological diversity were important for college campuses. However, as long as it was mostly conservatives getting shown the door or shut down, everyone was ok with it. They had their reasons and justifications - still do as recent polling shows a remarkable uptick in support for censorship on our side.

However I've said for a very long time that we would not always be the ones in control of speech and expression. The Right will gain power one day, and when they do, we won't like it when they decide what expression and speech on campus are or are not acceptable.

And here we are. That inevitable day is arriving.

Instead of being powerful independent voices for free expression, we've left ourselves open to, "You only dislike it because it's happening to you now." A lot of people earned that one, but we're all going to face the charge.

That's the problem with opening the door to censorship and narrowing acceptable ideas - you never know what's going to slither through with fangs sharpened against you.

[Celerity]

2. Absolutely agree. The chickens always seem to come home to roost in ways that many never foresee

when they become too authoritarianly dogmatic.