Largely, this is down to lack of viewpoint diversity among teaching staff; according to one study, less than 12 per cent of academic staff are right-leaning, as compared to roughly half of the national population. The expectation to conform to a particular political and ideological worldview has encouraged many academics to self-censor and circumscribed the career prospects of those who do not. A 2020 report found that one in three conservative scholars claim to self-censor ‘for fear of consequences to [their] career’.
