Year-End Update from the AFA
As 2025 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to reflect on the year behind us, when the threats facing academic freedom evolved dramatically. Here is how we fought to defend freedom of thought, inquiry, expression, and discussion on campuses.
Legal Defense and Case Outcomes
This year, we spent $400,000 on legal defense, which is nearly twice as much as in prior years. Thanks to our efforts, we secured eight victories on behalf of scholars under fire for protected speech. That brings our grand total to 27 victories secured out of 33 scholars supported, with several cases still ongoing. Over the life of the organization, we have provided more than $1 million in legal defense funding assistance.
Advocacy, Statements, and Public Engagement
In 2025, we issued public statements on major issues of national importance. For example, in March, we issued a statement regarding the deportation of noncitizen scholars and students, calling it “a grave threat to the mission of American universities.” In September, we called the assassination of Charlie Kirk “an attack on freedom of speech and, therefore, an attack on a vital practice of American universities.”
We also sent formal letters to universities in support of professors who were being unjustly punished or investigated for protected speech–including to New College of Florida over the firing of a Chinese professor, to Columbia University in support of Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, and to Texas State University regarding professor Thomas Altman. In each case, we urged institutions to adhere to their own academic freedom policies.
Scholarship and Thought Leadership
The AFA also contributed to the broader conversation about academic freedom through peer-reviewed publications, public engagement, and conference sponsorships.
The AFA’s Anna Krylov and Howard Muncy published a new article in the Journal of Controversial Ideas in which they describe how scholars can unite to defend academic freedom, presenting the AFA’s story as an example. The same journal also published a number of other articles on academic freedom from other AFA members such as Evan Morris, Lee Jussim, Luana Maroja, and Jerry Coyne. See the full list of articles here.
We published eight new episodes of the Academic Freedom Podcast, which have received well over 10,000 downloads. They include timely conversations on topics in the news, such as a recent episode on the Trump Administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” We also continued our print interview series, speaking with Janet Halley about the boundaries of academic freedom and the institutional conditions necessary to sustain it. Meanwhile, our X account (formerly Twitter) grew to surpass 5,000 followers.
The AFA was also proud to co-sponsor several major conferences related to our mission, including a USC Conference on Censorship in the Sciences in Los Angeles, the Heterodox Academy’s Annual Conference in New York, and a Peregrine Collective Conference at UC Berkeley on the mission of the university. We also hosted our own AFA conference, continuing our commitment to convening scholars for substantive, principled discussions on issues pertaining to academic freedom.
Our Growing Membership
The AFA added 75 new members throughout 2025, bringing our total membership to 979 scholars. We now have members in 47 of the 50 states, including—most recently—Iowa. This growth reflects both the strength of the AFA’s mission and the continued willingness of faculty across disciplines to stand up for academic freedom.
We are deeply grateful to those of you who have nominated colleagues and helped strengthen this community. Please keep those nominations coming by sending them to AFA Director of Operations Howard Muncy at hmuncy@academicfreedom.org.
Look Ahead and Fundraising Needs
In March 2026, we will mark our fifth anniversary. Since our founding, the challenges to academic freedom have changed but not abated. And the need for a principled, independent organization willing to defend scholars has only grown, as evidenced by the continued demand for our assistance.
It would be ideal if we could do our work without needing to constantly replenish our financial resources, but that is not the world we live in. We are currently in need of donations to assist in our case work, and we would be incredibly grateful for any contribution you can make.
In particular, Dr. Michael Joyner’s case against the Mayo Clinic is headed to trial in February. The AFA has covered 100% of Dr. Joyner’s legal expenses throughout his entire ordeal, and those costs are about to increase even further. This is an important moment to ensure professors and researchers have the ability to speak freely about their findings.
Please consider donating to our cause by making a contribution at this link. As we like to think of it: Legal defense is expensive, but failing to defend academic freedom when it is under attack is even costlier.
We look forward to another year ahead in the defense of academic freedom, and we wish everyone a safe and happy New Year.