State-Level Educational Censorship Legislation Affecting Colleges and Universities

Since 2021, legislation aimed at undermining academic freedom in higher education has proliferated across the United States. This chapter presents a broad overview of this legislative landscape, paying particular attention to three disturbing trends since 2023. First is a strategic turn toward bills that undermine institutional autonomy by targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Second is the cloaking of new bills in virtuous ideals such as “viewpoint diversity.” And third is the increased evidence suggesting that when lawmakers are unable to pass legislation curbing higher education they turn to jawboning to pressure college leaders to enact campus policies to achieve their censorial aims. We conclude with some discussion of effective strategies and rhetorical arguments to respond to this educational censorship legislation.