For the past decade Americans’ top fear has been the fear of a corrupt government. We are living in a time where the government has invaded a sovereign country, empowered ICE to terrorize citizens and undocumented individuals, deported U.S. citizens and others without due process, and pardoned violent criminals who participated in the January 6 insurrection.
Dr. Kevin Cokley
As a professor for almost 28 years, I have spent my career researching, teaching, and speaking on issues of race and racial inequities. However, I have become increasingly disappointed that some faculty are afraid to speak out against injustice and a corrupt government because of fear of political retaliation and concerns about job security. In the current political climate of authoritarianism, it is more important than ever for faculty to be brave and speak out against injustice and governmental assaults on academic freedom and freedom of speech.
King understood that the power of education is the ability to teach a person to think critically. Faculty play an important role by shaping and influencing important cultural and social debates. This is why the Trump administration, like other authoritarian administrations across the world, target universities. Because they do not want faculty to influence students (or citizens) to think critically about the administration’s actions.
One of the aspects of being a professor that I have appreciated the most (and taken for granted) is that I have been able to use the platform I have as a public scholar to educate and speak out on provocative and divisive issues without fear of being censored, silenced or threatened. While it is not always easy to speak out, it is my responsibility to do so, because of the educational privilege that I have.
Professors with tenure like me have the type of job security that does not exist in many other professions. Having tenure means faculty have a permanent position, which gives us the academic freedom to research, teach, and speak out on controversial topics without fear of losing our job (assuming we are not incompetent, don’t engage in misconduct, etc). Even with this job security, some faculty are afraid to publicly speak out against the government when it has exceeded its constitutional or legal authority or infringed on academic freedom or freedom of speech.
In a recent article Paul Bloom asks the question “Why Aren’t Professors Braver?” While he was primarily referring to self-censorship with other professors, I believe the question extends beyond disagreements with other faculty. In the midst of the authoritarian attacks against academic institutions, tenured faculty need to go beyond the comfort and safety of closed-door conversations bemoaning the actions of the Trump administration. In another recent article Brian Rosenberg asks the question “Where’s the Outrage? Universities Need to Speak Up” in response to the killing of Renee Nicole Good where he characterized the lack of response as shameful.
Society needs tenured faculty to have the moral courage to speak out against assaults on academic freedom, freedom of speech, and democracy in general. Texas A&M recently fired an English professor after a student secretly recorded her teaching about gender identity. A Texas A&M philosophy professor was told by college leadership that he had to remove Plato from his syllabus because of a new university policy banning discussions of “race and gender ideology.” I have become especially saddened to see that my former colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin, where I worked for 15 years, have been effectively silenced because of the draconian laws that scrutinize course content related to race and gender.
King was prescient in anticipating that speaking out against injustice and threats to democracy would likely shorten his life. However, he understood that the civil rights movement was bigger than any one individual.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that faculty need to speak out in a way that will put their lives in danger. We must use good judgment on when and how to speak, especially given that professors are not immune from receiving threats. After the death of Charlie Kirk, a University of Michigan professor received death threats after misinterpretation of his public comments. After writing op-eds on race-related issues I have received emails calling me racial epithets and challenging me to fight. I understand the reticence that faculty have about speaking out in the current political climate. However, that does not mean that faculty should be silent and not speak out on important issues that threaten democracy and academic freedom.
Former University of Michigan and Columbia University president Lee Bollinger argues in his upcoming book University: A Reckoning, that the concept of a free university is bigger than the individual privilege of a professor. Even if it is uncomfortable, faculty have an obligation to defend the integrity of academic institutions and speak out against authoritarianism. Bollinger states that “If you’ve given up your principles and values when under pressure, you will likely never get them back.” Martin Luther King Jr. was under extreme pressure but never remained silent and never gave up his principles and values.
So I am going on record to state that the murder of Renee Nicole Good is reprehensible. Empowering ICE to terrorize citizens and non-citizens is immoral. The federal government is wrong and there needs to be justice for Renee. And faculty should have the freedom to teach on issues pertaining to race and gender without fear of repercussions. King showed us how to resist a morally corrupt government. We should follow his example.
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Dr. Kevin Cokley is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, Professor of Psychology, and Associate Chair for Diversity Initiatives at the University of Michigan.
