I'm a full professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and am leaving my tenured position at the end of 2024 after losing the support of my campus for doing research (excellent, highly cited, peer reviewed, impactful, cited in consensus scientific assessments) that some politicians and advocates did not like. My campus has been decidedly non-neutral.
What does losing support look like? The institutions (two centers, two graduate programs) I created on campus were closed, I was investigated based on false claims, I was denied an office, phone, computer, the classes I teach were canceled or reassigned, I was removed from my department and given no other departmental affiliation, with no way to teach or do service.
Instead of all this, I'd much prefer the university be neutral with respect to my work, where neutral means treating faculty members the same regardless whether their research is politically salient or inconvenient to certain interests.
Your proposal that universities should be more active in reacting to faculty research would simply open the door for more shenanigans by administrators -- they could be based on politics but also just personal vendettas. The "university" is a collection of people, not a single interest.
But asking universities to police their faculty based on the politics of how their research may be received is a bad idea. The world can survive faculty with ideas that challenge consensus - sometimes great science such challenges even if most does not.
In the long run, looks like you’ll get your wish. It’s a muddled mess in the meantime.
I'm a full professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and am leaving my tenured position at the end of 2024 after losing the support of my campus for doing research (excellent, highly cited, peer reviewed, impactful, cited in consensus scientific assessments) that some politicians and advocates did not like. My campus has been decidedly non-neutral.
What does losing support look like? The institutions (two centers, two graduate programs) I created on campus were closed, I was investigated based on false claims, I was denied an office, phone, computer, the classes I teach were canceled or reassigned, I was removed from my department and given no other departmental affiliation, with no way to teach or do service.
Instead of all this, I'd much prefer the university be neutral with respect to my work, where neutral means treating faculty members the same regardless whether their research is politically salient or inconvenient to certain interests.
Your proposal that universities should be more active in reacting to faculty research would simply open the door for more shenanigans by administrators -- they could be based on politics but also just personal vendettas. The "university" is a collection of people, not a single interest.
Neutrality has its problems of course -- I've written at length on this: https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/should-universities-take-political
But asking universities to police their faculty based on the politics of how their research may be received is a bad idea. The world can survive faculty with ideas that challenge consensus - sometimes great science such challenges even if most does not.