Dear President Davis (April 2026)
Does the Furman Faculty Support Viewpoint Diversity?
April 13, 2026
President Elizabeth Davis
Furman University
3300 Poinsette Highway
Greenville, SC 29613
Dear Elizabeth,
Furman shines at this time of year. Many websites remind us that the school “is praised for its natural beauty” and that “the aesthetic appeal of the campus is a significant factor in students feeling at home and engaged.” Very true. Now, just a month before graduation, we wish you and the Class of ’26 all the best.
In our latest Belltower Times, we returned to the issue of viewpoint diversity, suggesting Furman join forces with a credible outside firm to obtain some solid data on the issue, for example, if faculty political leanings impact such things as teaching and hiring and promotion.
Viewpoint diversity is one of three factors in fostering a campus of open inquiry along with protection of free speech and robust and constructive disagreement. It is also foundational. Protecting free speech and modeling respectful dialogue are not difficult on a campus where everyone holds generally the same opinions. But that is also a campus that does not fulfill the purpose of a university where the search for knowledge requires viewpoint diversity.
It’s justified to worry that viewpoint diversity might be more difficult to achieve on a campus where an overwhelming majority of faculty lean left, as is pretty much the situation at most universities. But the corrective is not affirmative action for conservatives.
Instead, Furman could start by examining whether its faculty’s homogeneous political outlook stands in the way of it fulfilling the core purposes of the university.
In 2002, David Horowitz published the compelling “Academic Bill of Rights,” an early discussion of the problem of viewpoint diversity, which he termed intellectual pluralism. Here he notes one test for how faculty should act to ensure intellectual pluralism:
Faculty should avoid “taking unfair advantage of the student’s immaturity by indoctrinating him with the teacher’s own opinions before the student has had an opportunity fairly to examine other opinions upon the matters in question, and before he has sufficient knowledge and ripeness of judgment to be entitled to form any definitive opinion of his own.”
There is no need to go into the controversy generated by Horowitz’s Bill of Rights, but the above seems self-evident. Faculty, on the left, right, or center must have integrity and act with humility. “Academic freedom is not the same as free speech”, notes John Tomasi. “Everyone has the right as a citizen to express their views freely in the public square. But a classroom is not a public square. It is a place of learning, and that means that professors are obligated to behave professionally, as teachers, and not to use their classrooms as platforms for political causes.”
But doesn’t the burden of proof of professional behavior lie squarely with the left-leaning faculty? When the data show that nearly 98% of Furman faculty campaign donations went to liberal or Democratic causes, it’s the faculty that should respond. They should either dispute the data or demonstrate that their political contributions and political leanings are irrelevant to their work.
The FFSA is willing to sponsor that discussion. We could begin with the incident I often mention, the mobbing of Peter Paluszak, who was engaged in an officially authorized pro-life demonstration. (This deplorable incident is covered in full here.) Some Furman faculty let students out of class so they could join a crowd in front of the library to mob, taunt, and bully Peter. It seems to me that such unprofessional behavior by faculty requires disciplinary action.
As Furman President you have insisted on the importance of free speech and open dialogue, attention also needs to be paid to how the faculty encourages or suppresses viewpoint diversity. If your faculty insists that free speech means they can use their classrooms as bully pulpits, let them come forward and make that argument. At the very least, it would be good to find out if such activity is the norm at Furman or an anomaly.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Salmon
President,
Furman Free Speech Alliance
Elizbeth Davis is not going to change her spots. As long as she is President Furman will continue a woke progression. Parents of potential incoming students are aware of Furman's Liberal leanings.
Let's hope this doesn't fall on deaf ears. We need to keep beating the drum!