Is political interference causing faculty brain drain in the southern United States?

[SorellaLaBefana]

Recent survey reported in Nature suggests that it is.

A survey of faculty members working in US southern states shows that a significant majority frequently witness or experience political interference that affects morale and is causing many to look for positions in other regions or to leave academia altogether.

The survey, which ran in August 2024...found that nearly 60% of respondents could not recommend their state as a desirable place to work. Nearly 50% said that politics and policy changes had reduced the numbers of job applicants to their institutions...

...around 30% of faculty members there were looking for jobs outside the region. Reasons given included diminished academic freedom and lack of shared governance, state restrictions or bans on abortion, erosion of support for policies on diversity, equity and inclusion, threats to tenure and harassment or doxxing ...

“Multiple faculty members at my institution have been doxxed and harassed, including by elected officials,” wrote one respondent, a female instructor in Texas. “This makes it difficult for me to do my job or feel safe on campus or at home and honestly just live my life.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04070-1

Do not think that this is paywalled. I hope (or, since live in Texas, pray) that it is not.

[erronis]

1. Doesn't appear to be pay-walled. Many "leaders" in the South wouldn't mind seeing the "brain drain".

Best to have dumb sheep.

[ananda]

7. Soon to be dumb sheep underwater.

I wish them luck with that.

[hlthe2b]

2. Not to mention the medical faculty (and training residents) who leave/refuse to come

Nor the best minds in technology and related who refuse to relocate themselves and their families to regressive states--even if taxes are lower. Why would climate scientists or well-trained meteorologists relocate to these states if everything they say and know is politically discounted? Why would any competent Public Health professional agree to work in Louisiana or other states that are now outlawing even the discussion--much less programs--to encourage influenza, COVID-19, m-Pox vaccine where appropriate and will undoubtedly increasingly dismantle school admission vaccination laws/policies?

When the PTB in many of these states finally wakes up to what they have wrought with their policies, it will be too late. Once again the poor who cannot relocate will bear the burden.

[appalachiablue]

8. K/R All of this, especially this part. Tragic.

When the PTB in many of these states finally wakes up to what they have wrought with their policies, it will be too late.

Once again the poor who cannot relocate will bear the burden.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Fascist regimes always get rid of the intellectuals first thing.

Educated people are a big threat to fascist governments.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I'm pretty sure my dad would feel that way

He was chairman of the Geography department at Tennessee from 1972-1984 (or maybe it was 1986) and at that time the governors were all Democrats or Republicans that left things alone. I'm glad he's not here to see this. But one of my Swamp Rats is a professor of English at ETSU and I worry about him.

[NNadir]

5. It really bothers me that the important National Magnetic Laboratory is in Florida.

If I were a young researcher, I certainly won't want to raise my children in a place like Florida. Indeed, I would fear for their lives, health and security, particularly if I had daughters.

Since the National Magnetic Laboratory is in Florida, attitudes such I (and perhaps many others) have puts constraints on the quality of science that can be done at this important scientific infrastructure.

[SorellaLaBefana]

10. There is a clear causal connection between that geographic fact, and why I made the OP.

The outside back cover of 12Dec24 Nature is an advert For Florida State University.

The text reads:

MATERIALS MATTER [Humm that reminds one of something?]
FSU is pushing the boundaries [Perhaps not boundaries which should be pushed?]

At the bottom is the logo for:

National MAGLAB [Which I first truly misread as MAGALAB]

However, I realized my mistake, and as the rest of text made mention of superconductivity I concluded that “MAG” must refer to “Magnetic”.

Reading a Nature Briefing newsletter later, I came across the Brain Drain survey. Recalling the earlier MAGALAB advert, I was moved to make the post.

Thus the causal link: Q.E.D.

[NNadir]

11. That's interesting, but not entirely surprising. Another major scientific resource in the South is Oak Ridge...

...National Lab.

[Runningdawg]

6. The Bible has been causing the brain drain for a hundred years.

In 1978 I graduated from a small rural school in OK. Out of 7 in my class, I was the only one, unmarried and without children on graduation day. Boys dropped out Freshman year and my first friend married in 8th grade. She had a baby that summer. By the time I was 16, there was no one to hang out with. My friends all had 2-3 kids, worked pt time for Walmart and lived on welfare. They didn't send their kids to that school, they were all home schooled by momma, the way Jesus intended.
Many times, the pastor, in great concern, spoke with my parents and I about my sinful desire to ignore my calling by god and go to college instead.
The solution was to "allow" me to attend a votech where I was trained to be a hairdresser. They believe that career would keep me with the women where I belonged and eventually, some good old boy would breed me.
Thanks to a librarian, I got OUT.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Amen to that !

My parents were disappointed that I chose a college so far from home. But I wanted the *BEST* education I could get, and knew that college was only four years (three in my case, since I transferred credits) away from my family, after which I would be in a *MUCH* better position to find a job and thus much better chance to choose where I would live. PLUS getting out of the South was a BIG part of seeing more of the civilized world, and learning 'how things are done' elsewhere. I had met only a dozen or so (no exaggeration) non-white people, and not sure if I ever met anyone Jewish before I left for college. Certainly no Muslims. On campus, I saw more children of interracial couples than I had ever known existed (still a verboten subject where and when I grew up, but I later realized it went on a lot there, just not very publicly). I ended up with a Jewish roommate and several Muslim dormmates and I was fine with it. Never asked family how they felt about it (I know my *immediate* family would have been OK but not all members of my extended family, who are largely Southern).

My first teaching job took me back to the South, after 20 years away, and I found the omnipresence of "Christian" influence stifling. "What church do you attend ?" is considered a social icebreaker in most parts of the South, and my "What makes you assume I attend a church ?" wouldn't be very welcome, so I tended to say "Do I look like I attend church ?" (I mostly don't -- look that way, that is) or "No church would have me!" accompanied by a chuckle.

Salaries for academics are much higher elsewhere, even allowing for local costs of living. Our state and local taxes are among the very lowest in the country, and local taxes, of course, fund schools. Local voters seem to prefer depriving their own children of a good education to paying even slightly more in taxes. I had hoped that things might have improved some after 20 years, but they plainly haven't, at least not beyond a superficial level. People are only as "modern" as far as the law requires, and not one iota more.

I'm dying to get out again, before that phrase becomes too literal, but don't seem to have much chance to do so. Red-state thinking has spread to the whole country, and opportunities for academics are going the way of Autumn leaves. Enjoy them while they last, it won't be long.