Faculty Senate Campaign To Censure The Freedom Center

 

In August 2022, Kochs Off Campus! released a comprehensive report on the Freedom Center and the Department of Political Economy and Moral Science [PEMS]. The report was written by a UA professor and a UA student – both KOC! members. It identified three major problems:

  1. Inappropriate influence of external donors on the Freedom Center and PEMS that compromises academic autonomy

  2. Deceptive practices by and a lack of transparency from the Freedom Center and PEMS

  3. An ideological slant toward a libertarian agenda and exclusion of alternative points of view in some courses developed by Center-affiliated faculty.

The University of Arizona Faculty Senate formed a committee to investigate the allegations in this Kochs Off Campus! report. In April 2023, the committee released its own report regarding donor influence on the Freedom Center and PEMS -- including donor influence on curriculum and teaching -- as well as a lack of transparency and the use of deceptive practices.

In October 2023, the Freedom Center issued its response to the Faculty Senate Committee’s report. Page 19 of the response included a section entitled “Defamation Per Se,” which appeared to threaten a lawsuit against the authors of the Faculty Senate Committee’s report.

The Faculty Senate Committee quickly filed a response to the Freedom Center’s response, acknowledging the new leadership at the Freedom Center and expressing willingness to engage in dialogue with that leadership. The Committee’s response also expressed real concern about two examples of donor influence on hiring in PEMS. The response also worried about the chilling effect of the Freedom Center’s suggestion of “defamation per se” on the free expression that is needed for shared faculty governance.

Kochs Off Campus! members attended the UA Faculty Senate’s monthly meetings in October, November, and December 2023 and asked the Senate to censure the Freedom Center. Meanwhile, the “defamation per se” threat so alarmed the family of the Faculty Senate Committee chair that he resigned from the committee.

In January 2024, Kochs Off Campus! emailed all of the UA faculty members who had signed our 2017-18 petition asking the University to disaffiliate from the Freedom Center. Our 1/24 email explained what had happened in the Faculty Senate and encouraged the professors who had signed our petition to press the Faculty Senate to censure the Freedom Center for gross intimidation. To our knowledge, the Faculty Senate, distracted by a University financial crisis, never voted to censure the Freedom Center.