Heterodox Academy
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Heterodox Academy (HxA) is a
nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...
of academics working to counteract what they see as a lack of viewpoint diversity on college campuses, specifically political diversity. The organization was founded in 2015 by
Jonathan Haidt Jonathan David Haidt (; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. Haidt's main areas of study are the psyc ...
, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, and Chris Martin, who each cited a lack of politically conservative viewpoints in their academic disciplines. As of 2025, the organization had approximately 7,000 members in both faculty and non-faculty positions across 22 countries.


History

In 2011,
Jonathan Haidt Jonathan David Haidt (; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. Haidt's main areas of study are the psyc ...
, a psychology professor at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
, gave a talk at the
Society for Personality and Social Psychology A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. So ...
in which he argued that
American conservatives Conservatism in the United States is one of two major political ideologies in the United States, with the other being liberalism. Traditional American conservatism is characterized by a belief in individualism, traditionalism, capitalism, re ...
were underrepresented in social psychology and that this hinders research and damages the field's credibility. In 2014, along with political psychologist
Philip Tetlock Philip Eyrikson Tetlock (born March 2, 1954) is a Canadian-American political psychologist and writer, and is currently the Annenberg University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is cross-appointed at the Wharton School and ...
, social psychologist
Lee Jussim Lee J. Jussim (born December 2, 1955) is an American social psychologist. He leads the Social Perception Laboratory at Rutgers University. His research includes studying stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, and political radicalization. Earl ...
and others, Haidt published the paper "Political diversity will improve social psychological science". In 2015, Haidt was contacted by Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, a
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
law professor, who had given a talk to the
Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...
discussing a similar lack of conservatives in law and similarly argued that this undermines the quality of research and teaching. Haidt says he was also contacted by Chris Martin, a sociology graduate student who had published a similar paper about a lack of ideological diversity in sociology. Haidt, Martin, and Rosenkranz formed "Heterodox Academy" to address this issue. Initial funding for the group came from the
Richard Lounsbery Foundation The Richard Lounsbery Foundation is a philanthropic organization located in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1959, to enhance national strengths in science and technology (in the United States) and to foster strong Franco-American cooperation. ...
and The Achelis and Bodman Foundation. The Heterodox Academy website was launched with 25 members in September 2015. A series of campus freedom of speech controversies, such as those surrounding
Erika Christakis Erika Christakis (''née'' Zuckerman) is an American educator and writer, specializing in early childhood education. She is author of '' The Importance of Being Little''. Education and early career Christakis graduated from Harvard College with ...
at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
and the
2015–2016 University of Missouri protests In 2015, a series of protests at the University of Missouri related to race, workplace benefits, and leadership resulted in the resignations of the president of the University of Missouri System and the chancellor of the flagship Columbia campus ...
, coincided with an increase in membership. Membership was initially open to tenured and pre-tenure professors, but has been expanded to a range of other faculty ranks (including career/full-time as well as adjunct/part-time), and non-faculty positions such as
graduate student Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...
s and
postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...
s. Initially, the group had a selective membership application process which was partly intended to address imbalances toward any particular political ideology. In 2017, Heterodox Academy had about 800 total members. By 2018, about 1,500 professors had joined, along with a couple hundred graduate students. In 2018, Debra Mashek, a professor of psychology at
Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolled 902 undergra ...
, was appointed as the executive director of Heterodox Academy. Mashek held the position until 2020, after which an interim executive director was appointed. In 2020, the organization had around 4,000 members. John Tomasi, a political philosopher at
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
, became the first president of Heterodox Academy in 2022. As of 2023, total membership was approximately 5,000. As of 2025, it was 7,000 members.


Programs and activities

In June 2018, Heterodox Academy held an inaugural Open Mind Conference in New York City, featuring several academic guests recently involved in campus
free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...
issues, like
Robert Zimmer Robert Jeffrey Zimmer (November 5, 1947 – May 23, 2023) was an American mathematician and academic administrator. From 2006 until 2021, he served as the 13th president of the University of Chicago and as the Chair of the Board for Argonne Na ...
,
Lucía Martínez Valdivia Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, Tudor- Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature pr ...
, Allison Stanger,
Alice Dreger Alice Domurat Dreger () is an American historian, bioethicist, author, and former professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, in Chicago, Illinois. Dreger engages in acade ...
, and
Heather Heying Heather E. Heying (born 1969) is an American evolutionary biologist, former professor, and author, who came to national attention following the Evergreen State College protests in 2017. She has been associated with the informal group known as th ...
. The organization administers a "Campus Expression Survey", designed to allow professors and college administrators to survey their students' feelings about freedom of expression on campus. Heterodox Academy has advocated for institutional neutrality policies. In February 2024, Heterodox Academy, the
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), formerly called the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit civil liberties group founded in 1999 with the mission of protecting freedom of speech on col ...
and the
Academic Freedom Alliance The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) is a nonprofit organization formed by college educators to defend free expression. The mission of the organization is to challenge university administrations and provide legal help to professors who face discip ...
"released a joint open letter calling for institutional neutrality". In March 2025, Heterodox Academy released a report tracking the adoption of institutional neutrality statements by colleges, which saw a significant increase after the October 7, ''2023 attack on Israel,'' ensuing war and campus protests.


Ideology and reception

Heterodox Academy describes itself as non-
partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...
. In 2018, the group's website described its mission as encouraging political diversity to allow dissent and challenge errors. In a study responding to Heterodox Academy's contentions of bias against conservative professors, Jeffrey Adam Sachs, a professor of political science at Canada's
Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...
, found that liberal professors were more often dismissed for their speech than were conservative professors. He argued in a Heterodox Academy podcast and elsewhere that the campus free speech crisis was "a myth" and "largely imaginary". According to '' Voxs Zack Beauchamp, Heterodox Academy's claim that conservative viewpoints are censored on college campuses is unsupported by data. In the same 2019 article, Beauchamp argues that
advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...
s such as Heterodox Academy do more to narrow the scope of academic debates than any of the biases they allege. Citing Beauchamp's article, Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill of the
Bipartisan Policy Center The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that promotes bipartisanship. The organization aims to combine ideas from both the Republican and Democratic parties to address U.S. policy challenges. History BPC w ...
argued that national data does not support the claim that there is no crisis of free expression on campuses in the United States. Speaking at Heterodox Academy's conference in 2022,
Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
president Michael Roth, who has advocated for viewpoint diversity in the past, challenged Haidt's assertion that academia had been "taken over" by the progressive left, and said that Haidt had been silent about the threat to academic freedom posed by
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
.


See also

* Chicago principles *
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), formerly called the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit civil liberties group founded in 1999 with the mission of protecting freedom of speech on col ...
*
Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) is a Canadian non-profit organization founded to promote academic freedom and Academic excellence, intellectual excellence on Higher education in Canada, Canadian institutions of higher ed ...
*
Academic Freedom Alliance The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) is a nonprofit organization formed by college educators to defend free expression. The mission of the organization is to challenge university administrations and provide legal help to professors who face discip ...
* Self censorship *
Freedom of speech in schools in the United States The issue of school speech or curricular speech as it relates to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution has been the center of controversy and litigation since the mid-20th century. The First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speec ...
*
Viewpoint diversity Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism. Academic ...
* Cognitive bias mitigation * Braver Angels *
Adversarial collaboration In science, adversarial collaboration is a modality of collaboration wherein opposing views work together in order to jointly advance knowledge of the area under dispute. This can take the form of a scientific experiment conducted by two groups of ...


References


External links

* * {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer, 822903153 Organizations established in 2015 2015 establishments in the United States Advocacy groups in the United States Freedom of expression organizations Higher education in the United States