In the weeks since Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed, his organization’s professor watchlist has received more attention — and so have the people listed.
The conservative organization created the watchlist in 2016 to identify professors who “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” The list includes 10 people on its page for the University of Maryland, though not all of them are professors at this university.
One of the professors mentioned on the watchlist is associate history professor David Freund, who is listed for his writing about exclusionary housing practices and systemic racism.
Freund told The Diamondback that despite the renewed attraction to the list, this type of targeting has existed throughout his career. There is a long history of silencing voices to erase certain stories, Freund said, which is always bad for higher education.
Whether it’s due to the subject they teach, their gender identity or their racial background, Freund said professors are being portrayed as a threat.
“We all in higher ed need to make it clear that that’s just not acceptable,” Freund said.
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Freund said the website was not substantial because instead of opposing or debating the professors’ views, many of the profiles on the watchlist only state opinions that the professors would stand by.
The website has a bio for each professor listed, featuring their photo and often excerpts from their writings or teachings where they’ve expressed their research or views.
In an interview with The Diamondback on Wednesday, university president Darryll Pines acknowledged the inaccuracies in the university listing and said he thought the list has been around for a long time.
He said this university has not asked faculty to change their course offerings or curriculum.
Pines added that the university’s chief counsel released a policy on how faculty who feel threatened or doxxed can receive legal or community support.
“As an individual, they also have rights to voice their opinions as they see fit,” Pines said. “Maybe they’re not representative of the university, but we do counsel them that in this new world social media, to just be careful.”
American Association of University Professors spokesperson Kelly Benjamin said it’s important for universities to stand up for the academic freedom of their faculty.
Benjamin said lists like these could significantly affect education, such as limiting open inquiry and debate in the classroom.
“This is a blatant persecution, which is leading to sort of a national mob mentality around higher education that is threatening not only the livelihoods of professors, but also their very lives,” Benjamin said. “They’re in fear of being targeted with violence. It’s incredibly dangerous.”
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Christabel Cheung, a member of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center and an associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, is also on the watchlist.
Cheung said Kirk’s organization has caused real harm to professors across the country, and in the weeks following his assasination, that harm has been left out of the conversation.
She was first added to it in 2023 after Fox News reported on a health equity lecture she presented. She said she began receiving harassment on social media and through email, including death threats.
Cheung said the harassment has left a lasting impact on her life. She said she removed her personal information from the internet and has struck her name from speaking events and other work.
“I didn’t care that I wasn’t getting credit for my work,” Cheung said. “I just wanted to stay alive.”
Assistant news editor and administration reporter Sam Gauntt interviewed university president Darryll Pines for this story.
