When Speaking Truth to Power Becomes a Punishable Offense

The left’s favorite slogan, “Speak truth to power,” is just that. It is an empty, propagandist slogan increasingly turned into an ironic snare, considering the power scale being tipped towards their side decisively in multiple facets of American life, and higher education is at the forefront of the irony.

Across the nation, campus life is riddled with loyalty tests on political correctness and ideological conformity, compared to which truth, merit, and academic prestige pale. A December 2024 survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) demonstrates alarming threats to academic freedom in the open marketplace of ideas:

• 35 percent of faculty reported toning down writing for fear of controversy;
• 14 percent suffered discipline or threats of discipline for their teaching, research, academic speeches and other off-campus talks;
• 27 percent felt unable to speak freely;
• 40 percent were concerned about reputational damages for being misunderstood;
• 23 percent worried about losing their jobs because someone misunderstands what they have said or done;
• 50 percent disagreed with “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) statements as a faculty hiring requirement;
• 66 percent dissented to colleges and universities taking positions on political and social issues.

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In other words, most university professors and academics oppose the politicization of higher education and detest the DEI political litmus test. But they are hesitant to voice their disapproval. A FIRE survey of 6,269 faculty members across 55 American colleges and universities revealed that self-censorship among academics is now four times more prevalent than it was during the peak of McCarthyism!

Not surprisingly, conservative faculty are disproportionately afraid. 52 percent of conservative faculty worry about reputational damages, compared to 43 percentof moderate and 35 percent of liberal faculty. 55 percent of conservatives, versus 17 percent of progressives, reportedly hide their political beliefs from colleagues in an attempt to save their jobs. The Israeli-Palestine conflict, racial inequality, transgender rights, affirmative action, and the presidential election are the top issues, regarding which the faculty surveyed by FIRE have difficulty having an open and honest conversation on their campus.

According to a University of Michigan professor,

The universities have traded ideas for ideology. I never feel comfortable speaking about issues related to DEI or transgender issues. The university I work at has adopted a stance on both of these issues that cannot be question[ed] without fear of reprisal, sanction, or ostracization from the academic community.

Recently, cancel culture befell a University of California Riverside professor who questioned the school’s DEI obsession in faculty hiring. Perry Link, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature/Chinese and an intellectual bulwark on East Asia, incurred fury from who he calls “DEI Guardians” for criticizing race-based hiring.

After productive tenures with Princeton and UCLA, Professor Link joined UC Riverside, where he is the Chancellorial Chair for Teaching Across Disciplines, in 2008. In December 2022, Link opposed propping up an unqualified black applicant in a faculty search committee because said candidate did not possess the “sophistication and experience up to the level of our top candidates.”

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The honest comment, albeit in stark contrast to DEI’s requirement of race essentialism, triggered a chain reaction from the university. Professor Link was swiftly reported to school administrators, investigated in a “kangaroo court,” which presumed him guilty of racism, and dismissed from the faculty search committee. A complaint was filed against the professor by the Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences to the school’s Academic Senate. In it, the dean alleged that Professor Link “had violated the Faculty Code of Conduct by making “adverse and unwarranted comments about the race, gender, or national origin of the candidate pool.” Subsequently, he was forced to choose between a 10 percent pay cut and more disciplinary actions.

Not willing to take the injustice silently, Professor Link fought back, defending his  right to due process at a Charges Committee and the committee exonerated him unanimously in June 2024, after a nearly two-year ordeal. But the vindication came with the condition that Professor Link is not appointed to any search committees for the foreseeable future. The school also imposed a gag order and threatened with future penalty if the professor were to choose to speak out about the disciplinary process.

The nightmarish treatment Professor Link has received from the UC Riverside, a prestigious public research university outfitted with “Bold Hearts. Brilliant Minds” as its slogan, is a snapshot of the stifling intolerance afflicting higher education. Punishing an honest academic who voiced dissent on a controversial issue—presumed to be truth in the woke universe—rewards neither courage nor brilliance. Kudos to Professor Link for not retreating into self-censorship or bowing down to the DEI orthodoxy. We need more pushback from more professors who must teach the radical left what “speaking truth to power” truly means.

Lest the thankfully unsuccessful cancellation of America’s utmost expert on modern China become another statistic.

Follow Wenyuan Wu on X.

Image of UCR University Ave Entrance — Wikimedia Commons