Do you think any left-wing activists on college campuses ever feel the need to self-censor? Professor Jacobson is quoted in this piece.
From National Review:
Majority of Law Professors Self-Censor to Avoid Campus Backlash, Study FindsA majority of law professors feel that they cannot express their opinions on controversial topics for fear of backlash from students, other faculty, or administrators, according to a new report released by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
The report, based on surveys with 1,959 law school faculty members, shows an academic environment in which law school faculty endorse First Amendment principles, but struggle to practice them. FIRE is a free speech advocacy group known for its legal work, College Free Speech Rankings, and university faculty polling — but this new report represents the group’s first foray into law school faculty polling.Nearly 70 percent of respondents said they wanted protection under the First Amendment for speech that listeners may find “deeply offensive.” But 56 percent admitted to withholding controversial opinions to avoid campus backlash.Conservative law professors, a minority among law school faculty, were overrepresented among those who reported self-censoring, with 72 percent admitting they conceal controversial opinions from students and colleagues.William Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School and author of the blog Legal Insurrection, faced just such a backlash after he publicly criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.“For criticizing BLM post-George Floyd I was denounced by 21 of my colleagues, by 15 student groups, and by the then (now departed) Dean. While I wasn’t fired, the treatment of me served as a warning shot across the bow of any other faculty member willing to publicly challenge core left-wing political assumptions, particularly as to racial politics,” said Jacobson in a statement to National Review.A significant majority of conservative respondents (61 percent) reported feeling that the institutional climate they operate in is hostile to their views, while only 11 percent of liberal respondents felt the same.
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