In 2023, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) canceled an accepted session from their annual conference: “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Why biological sex remains a necessary analytic category in anthropology.” AAA’s decision, phrased in today’s academic jargon, was explicitly political. AAA President Ramona Pérez, writing jointly with President Monica Heller of the Canadian Anthropological Society, explained that,
The reason the session deserved further scrutiny was that the ideas were advanced in such a way as to cause harm to members represented by the Trans and LGBTQI of the anthropological community as well as the community at large.
An academic professional association, in other words, censored its members in service of the radical mulligan stew of identity politics, gender ideology, and safetyism. More precisely, they denied their members the normal means used by academic professionals to communicate with one another—and, not incidentally, to gain the networking experience and credentials for a CV that are the coin of the realm for academic promotion. AAA’s censorship directly harmed the careers of the session members. It also sent an intimidating message to every anthropologist in North America: If you challenge our radical ideologies, we will destroy your career.
AAA’s decision exemplifies how radical activists use professional associations to promote radical ideology and restrict academic freedom—and AAA is hardly alone. The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ (NASPA) conference code includes an Orwellian bias reporting system:
NASPA is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment and strives to address the interests of its members and the student affairs profession on issues related to social justice, equity, and inclusion. … If you experience or witness discrimination or harassment at a NASPA program/event or occurring while you or others have acted in a NASPA-related capacity, we encourage you to report the incident to a member of the NASPA staff. Reports can be made online, through the event mobile app or a form available at the registration desk for in-person events (if applicable), or by email to … [the] Vice President for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
In 2021, the National Association of Social Workers adopted standards in its Code of Ethics,
articulating social workers’ ethical duty to promote social justice and take steps to redress racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of oppression and discrimination. Further, Standard 1.05(c) states that social workers should engage in critical-self-reflection, “understanding their own bias and engaging in self-correction.”
The American Psychological Association (APA) now states on its home page that “APA is committed to infusing the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of the work we do. Our EDI framework is a foundational tool to create substantive, transformative, and sustainable change within APA, across the psychology profession, and throughout broader society.” In 2022, the American Bar Association (ABA) added discriminatory concepts—”diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI)—to its accreditation requirements for law schools. In February 2025, the ABA did suspend these requirements in response to the Trump administration executive order mandating the end of DEI—but that suspension will only last as long as the executive order remains in force.
Not every professional organization explicitly says they will do as the AAA did and punish members who dissent from these ideological commitments. They don’t need to. Their statements of ideological commitment to identity politics and gender theory ideologies make it clear to their members: toe the line or we will deny you access to our conferences and job fairs, to every service we provide that credentials you as a professional in good standing. A cabal of radical activists uses professional associations as another means to curb academic freedom—and, by controlling academics’ contribution to public discourse, to curb every American’s freedom.
Radical activists use a host of interlocking components of civil society to restrict academic freedom—and the National Association of Scholars and the Civics Alliance already have drafted model legislation to reform federal and state policy on accreditation and licensure. The Licensure Nondiscrimination Act, in particular, prevents radicalized professional associations from imposing discriminatory licensure requirements. We have now drafted the model Professional Association Liberty Act to prohibit all state funding or support for any professional association that requires commitments to discriminatory concepts, imposes censorship, or requires abridgment of First Amendment rights. Prohibited funding includes membership expenses, travel expenses, professional development, grants, use of public facilities, or support for any program or activity sponsored by a discriminatory professional association.
Woke professional associations have the freedom to censor and discriminate. They just don’t have the right to get taxpayer money for doing so.
We have crafted the Professional Association Liberty Act to complement the Trump administration’s Department of Education (ED) executive orders forbidding educational institutions from funding DEI programs. These federal initiatives will work most effectively if states enact laws aimed at the same goal. The ED may not be able to trace which educational institutions fund which professional associations. State governments should act themselves to prohibit the use of state taxpayer funds for discrimination by professional associations. We Americans should not leave it to the Trump administration to do all the work to remove discrimination and censorship from America’s education system.
States that pass the Professional Associations Liberty Act will strike a blow for academic freedom—and make sure their taxpayers don’t get the bill for woke professional organizations who think “academic discussion” means, We’ll break your fingers if you don’t stick them in your ears.
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Image: “Wisconsin State Assembly Chairs” by Royalbroil on Wikimedia Commons
“Woke professional associations have the freedom to censor and discriminate. They just don’t have the right to get taxpayer money for doing so.”
It’s worse than this — increasingly, states are adopting these association’s codes as legal regulations for those licensed in the profession. In other words, the state will yank your license if you violate the professional associations rules.
The associations also increasingly apply these rules to academic programs necessary to be licensed.