Report: One-Third of Faculty at Colleges in the South Consider Relocating
Credit: Image Credit: Jeff Greenberg / Contributor / Universal Images Group- Academic freedom and tenure have come under attack in recent years.
- Many professors may leave academia due to these attacks.
- Salary, however, was the reason cited most often for wanting to teach outside of the U.S. South.
A survey of professors from a dozen states in the South found that over 1 in 3 faculty members have applied for a job in academia outside of their state in the past two years or plan to soon.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) polled 2,924 faculty members working in the southern U.S. in August to gauge the perception of academia in the region. AAUP found that recent attacks on academic freedom and the politicization of higher education in the South have pushed professors to seek employment elsewhere.
Approximately 38% of respondents said they have either applied for a job in higher education outside of their state since 2022 or plan to in the next hiring cycle.
In the end, this survey shows many states are in danger of losing not merely faculty but any reputation they had for higher education,
Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia AAUP chapter, told BestColleges. That will have an effect on students soon enough.
Here are the most popular states professors have applied for jobs in, according to AAUP:
- California
- New York
- Massachusetts
- North Carolina
- Illinois
Salary was the reason most often cited by faculty applying for jobs elsewhere (56.5%). However, issues like the state’s political climate (53.3%) and academic freedom (49.6%) were also primary reasons.
Tenure and academic freedom have become political punching bags in many Southern states. While academic tenure has managed to survive attacks in recent years — including a close call in Texas in May 2023 — politicians continue to call for an end to the practice that grants added protections for long-serving professors. Meanwhile, some professors say that attacks on academic freedom have limited what they feel comfortable saying in college classrooms.
I have stopped teaching certain texts/topics,
one faculty member told AAUP.
Approximately 70% of respondents rated the potential atmosphere surrounding higher education as poor
or very poor,
per AAUP.
Just under 59% said they would not recommend their state as a desirable place to work for colleagues. More than a quarter (27.7%) don’t intend to stay in academia long term.
That stat about whether faculty will stay long term is most depressing,
Boedy said. The drip, drip of faculty leaving hollows out campuses.
AAUP polled faculty from the following 12 states:
- Texas
- Georgia
- Florida
- Virginia
- South Carolina
- Kentucky
- North Carolina
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Mississippi
- Arkansas
- Louisiana