A new study has found that conservative professors and graduate students are “guaranteed” to face discrimination, with the majority of academics supporting that discrimination simply because they disagree with conservative beliefs.
The study, from the Center for the Study of Partnership and Ideology, conducted by University of London politics professor Eric Kaufmann, also found that a third of conservative academics have been threatened with some form of discipline for expressing their views, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
“Kaufmann analyzed eight surveys of graduate-level professors and doctoral students, the majority of whom said they would not oppose discriminating against their right-leaning peers in some form. Ten percent of academics support outright cancelling or firing conservative professors who express their views,” the outlet reported. “The study adds a new dimension to recent stories of harassment and intimidation of conservative voices in academia. Conservatives have long been a minority in American universities, but only recently has so-called cancel culture led to a rise in what Kaufmann calls the ‘chilling’ effect of self-censorship.”
Kaufman told the Free Beacon that “the discriminatory impact is huge,” for conservatives in academia, and that even without “punishment mechanisms,” the blatant opposition to conservative beliefs creates “powerful conformist pressures that make people keep their mouths shut.”
The study found that the pressure to conform worked, with 70% of conservative academics reporting they faced a hostile work environment within their departments, and 90% of those who supported former President Donald Trump said they were wary to discuss their beliefs with colleagues.
A majority of conservative academics also reported that they self-censored what they taught and researched, the Free Beacon reported.
“Kaufmann told the Free Beacon that the trend is likely to get worse. Twenty percent of academics under 30 support ‘dismissing’ peers deemed controversial, Kaufmann said. Thirty percent of doctoral students say they would discriminate against grant bids from right-leaning researchers or decline to promote a conservative peer,” the outlet reported. “Such discrimination is not limited to universities, Kaufmann observed. ‘It’s become quite pervasive across the U.S., Britain, and Canada. There is now a certain level of discrimination on the basis of ideology and politics.’”
The study confirms what many already know, having followed anecdotal evidence supporting Kaufmann’s conclusions for years. As The Daily Wire has previously reported, a professor in Florida faced an inquisition after he tweeted “black privilege is real” following the riots that resulted from the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At Cornell University, students boycotted a class taught by a law professor critical of Black Lives matter tactics.
The list goes on and is not exclusive to professors or graduate students. Undergraduate students routinely face discrimination for challenging liberal orthodoxy, as evidence by the recent suspension of a State University of New York-Geneseo student who published videos of himself espousing conservative beliefs. Or the student journalist who sued Arizona State University after being removed as station manager following a tweet about the sexual assault allegations against Jacob Blake, a black man shot by a white police officer.