Two major problems with academic freedom right now (which you find yourself wondering, were the liberal-claiming professorate only respecting academic freedom w

Two major problems with academic freedom right now (which you find yourself wondering, were the liberal-claiming professorate only respecting academic freedom when they were opinions they agreed with?): 1. There is an increasing belief in "the right to not be offended" which is something that if you want to live in a society with free speech rights, you must nip in the bud. Anyone can be offended about anything, including things that are true. This cannot be the standard for censorship. 2. "Racism" and censorship based on "racism" is sinking its teeth into everything and extending its scope to include discussion of facts and policies that plainly have to do with race. Pointing out blatant facts that have correlations with race is becoming taboo. I put racism in quotes, because what racism means is being expanded, including to cause anyone offense with facts having to do with race. The more the above 2 factors are allowed to take hold in an organization, school, society, and people get shouted down for daring to raise such points -- then the more legitimate opinions and discussion relating to these 2 areas will simply be pushed underground and only privately held in people's minds, and unable to be talked about publicly. And then, people who claimed they were all for free speech, non-censorship, will be surprised when people, in the privacy of the voting booth, actually express their opinions and show that they did not agree the entire time and are not on board with the ideas that the one side thought everyone was on board with. I'm glad the OP article touched on these points.