“It was just a constant stream of claims that I’m microaggressing people, complaints coming out of nowhere. In 2017, he took his fight off-campus, teaming up with two other academics to produce satirical hoax papers about race, gender and fat theory and submit them to academic journals to “expose the corruption in scholarly literature.” “It was just a constant stream of claims that I’m microaggressing people, complaints coming out of nowhere,” Boghossian, 55, recalled. Portland State University (above) has been ranked as one of the worst institutions for academic freedom. By 2016, an allegation from a former student triggered a Title IX investigation into whether Boghossian beat his wife and children, and he was horrified to learn that the university interviewed “witnesses” about the claims.Īfter several months, Portland State found the charges to be baseless. But, as Boghossian spoke out against woke campus orthodoxy, he became a target.ĭigital vigilantes infiltrated his social media accounts, calling him a “bigot” and a “Nazi” and contacting old friends in search of dirt. He pushed back by inviting ideologically diverse speakers to his classes - including Phil Vischer, the Christian cartoon creator of “VeggieTales,” to his atheism course. “In retrospect, Portland State was a canary in the coal mine.” “The campus culture changed very, very, very dramatically in a very, very, very short period of time. By 2012, he began to notice an explosion of identity politics and intolerance for different viewpoints on campus. In 2010, Peter Boghossian was hired as a philosophy professor specializing in critical thinking at Portland State University in Oregon. PETER BOGHOSSIAN: “Complaints came out of nowhere” As Peter Boghossian spoke out against woke campus orthodoxy at Portland State, he became a target. Here are five, of diverse backgrounds and ideologies, who are refusing to bow to the mob. At this rate, 2022 will exceed not only 2021, but 2020 as well.”īut some professors are speaking out against cancel culture. “Already there have been 35 attempts in 2022. “2020 was the worst year for sanction attempts, but it created a ‘new normal,’” FIRE research fellow Komi Frey told The Post. In 2020, FIRE recorded 136 instances of punishing or firing professors for airing their views - a fourfold increase over just five years.
Since 2015, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has recorded a staggering 591 instances of retaliation toward college faculty members for expressing their ideas. Professors increasingly face retribution for voicing contrary opinions on college campuses.
Heard op-ed ‘canceled’ Depp, sank his $22.5M movie deal, witnesses say Brian Cox calls cancel culture ‘a virus,’ like ‘modern-day McCarthyism’įrank Langella blames firing on cancel culture: ‘This is not American’ĭave Chappelle’s first joke after onstage attack: ‘That was a trans man’