Curtailing Instructor Speech

 So my friend and colleague texted me this morning at 8. I was asleep, having successfully fended off my cat from nudging me awake at my usual 6:30 time. 

Bad news.

My university's board of supervisors decided, last night, to restrict the rights of instructors in classrooms. They clarified that classrooms are not spaces where first amendment protections apply. Thus did they seek to prevent instructors from "imposing" their political views on students. The statement declined to define what "imposing" might constitute. 

More bad news: the University of Pittsburgh is pausing all PhD recruitment efforts in light of uncertainty about federal funding. Worse, the University of Pennsylvania appears to have done that and more, actually rescinding some assistantship offers. To call that shocking understates its seriousness. It's akin to hiring someone in a competitive field, having them accept the offer (and presumably turn down competing offers)--and then take it back. How horrible for the students affected. How embarrassing for the universities.

No one would accuse me of optimism, but I doubt that Trump's executive order on NIH funding will survive judicial review. I think one court has already put it on hold. Either Trump has doubled down on cutting funding despite court orders, or the universities have decided to take preemptive action. 

I worry this might spark a more widespread panic-wave of grad program admission freezes. I've already made four offers to prospective students. Thinking about the awkward "well, actually..." conversation I'd have to have with them should my university join that wave makes me queasy. 

Regarding the Board of Supervisors' decision . . . well, that doesn't upset my stomach in quite the same way yet. Oh, it angers me.  Similar to the post-the-Ten-Commandments-in-every-classroom thing, this decision seems transparently unconstitutional. I expect it to be restrained by a judge in the next week. From there, it will wind its way up layers of judicial review until it lands somewhere consequential and nudges the Overton Window a bit closer to tyranny--or not! So--infuriating? Definitely. I'll join whatever hell gets raised about it. 

But in terms of immediate threat, I worry more about PhD recruitment than I do about being fired for something I say in class--at least right now.

Perhaps naivete clouds my vision. Unconstitutional or not, this maneuver (instigated by our utterly anti-higher-ed governor) highlights the conservative movement's war on tenure, if not on university education itself. I recognize that we all have targets painted on our backs. Rumors suggest that most of our upper-administrative personnel have plotted (or been shown) escape routes from my institution in the next few weeks. Who knows how long we have before colleagues start following them?

And what do I tell students, prospective and current, without someone thinking that I have "imposed" my views on them?