Censorship on campus is getting more sophisticated, report warns

A stealthier wave of censorship campaigns is hitting college campuses as lawmakers in some states move to restrict academic freedom beyond “educational gag orders” enacted in recent years, a new report warns.

New censorship laws aimed at higher education have become “more insidious” during 2024 legislative sessions, according to PEN America’s “America’s Censored Classrooms 2024: Refining the Art of Censorship” report. The anti-censorship nonprofit cited the closure of campus cultural centers in Utah and Iowa’s “extreme” DEI ban.

Those measures are even more aggressive than the gag orders designed to stifle discussions of race, gender and LGBTQ+ issues on campus and in K12 schools.

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“What’s occurring in our universities is a coordinated assault on free expression, now obscured by claims of fairness and neutrality, making it harder to combat,” said Jeremy C. Young, a co-author of the report and PEN America’s Freedom to Learn program director.

PEN America counted a record 29 bills—not including gag orders—targeting academic tenure, faculty shared governance, DEI and other components of academic freedom. Five of those measures became law. Additionally, eight gag orders were passed during the latest legislative sessions that impact higher education.

The report also examines shifting tactics of censorship, noting that calls for “institutional neutrality” are replacing attacks on “wokeness.” Other strategies categorized by PEN America include:

• Disguising censorship: Attaching gag orders to popular causes like “viewpoint diversity” allows campus censorship to appear more palatable.
• Undermining academic structures: New bills focus on dismantling the systems that protect academic freedom, such as attacking tenure and shared governance.
• “Jawboning”: In some cases, lawmakers pressure universities to impose restrictions without the need for legislation.

PEN America also highlighted growing activism against gag orders and other censorship efforts. Some legal challenges have resulted in “significant victories” while lawmakers have abandoned bills that would have imposed new restrictions.