Washington – September 11, 2026 -- Seventy-one percent of surveyed academics say American higher education is worse equipped today than it was 25 years ago to pursue truth-seeking as its central mission, according to a new survey released by the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Two-thirds of professors doubt students can identify who perpetrated 9/11
The survey found that 66% of Middle East studies professors do not believe their students can correctly identify the causes or perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The same share, 66%, said scholarly academic work has generated cover for ideologies, groups, or regimes directly hostile to the United States.
Decline in academic standards holds across fields, ranks and institution types
ASMEA said the 71% figure on diminished truth-seeking capacity was consistent regardless of academic discipline, faculty rank, institution type, or length of career, pointing to a systemic rather than isolated pattern of ideological bias in research and teaching.
Younger faculty report higher rates of self-censorship
Academics who obtained their positions within the past decade were more likely than senior colleagues to report self-censoring their views to align with departmental orthodoxy, the survey found.
"We've long read reports in the press alerting us to various biases in American academia," said Asaf Romirowsky, PhD, ASMEA's Executive Director. "Our most recent survey proves that the concerns aren't merely anecdotal, and that we're facing a pandemic of ideological bias preventing our institutions of higher education from pursuing their stated goals."
Romirowsky added that requiring faculty to hold uniform views under threat of termination undermines academic freedom, and argued that the survey's findings should become a priority for universities seeking to restore a commitment to factual inquiry.
Survey drew 470 responses over a three-week window in August
The survey was conducted from August 6-28, 2026, and collected responses from 470 participants.