The New McCarthyism: The Future of DEI and Academic Freedom in Higher Education

Academic freedom is crucial to the mission of higher education, enabling institutions to promote and foster open inquiry, create and advance knowledge, and support social and economic mobility. However, sociopolitical pressures aim to undermine academic freedom by targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and other core elements of higher education. Though DEI is the current target, it only serves as an entry point into higher education institutions to further disrupt and dismantle academic freedom. As some state legislatures scrutinize, and in some cases intervene, into curriculum and course offerings — along with federal legislators generating lists of words deemed unacceptable for federal research funding including words or phrases such as “historical,”  “white men,” and “clean energy” — areas historically under the purview of faculty governance are being left to politicians.

Historically and contemporarily, political and governmental pressures have led to McCarthy-esque attacks intent on rooting out alleged ideologies bent on inculcating students with what are deceptively framed as dangerous, ultra-liberal, left-winged ideas. Today, these attacks on higher education are bolstered by a well-funded and well-organized barrage of governmental and political forces that operate collectively to undermine academic freedom. Despite years of evidence and considerable support across disciplines that demonstrate the educational benefits of diverse and inclusive communities, DEI work at universities are being attacked and faculty are facing pressures to avoid addressing a multitude of “divisive concepts” including gender studies, climate science, women’s healthcare, the Middle East, critical race theory, and vaccines.

The National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) in collaboration with the the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) is hosting two days of events focused on the implications of the attacks of DEI and broader authoritarian practices on academic freedom and the future of higher education.