Dr. Nicholas H. Wolfinger is Professor of Family and Consumer Studies and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Utah. His research is focused on sociology of the family and social demography. Throughout his career, Dr. Wolfinger’s tormentors sought to punish him for speech as ominous as rolling his eyes, a not very racy story shared with colleagues off campus and over drinks, and a tweet. After being investigated for the third time, Dr. Wolfinger found his own creative ways of turning lemons into lemonade by publishing Professors Speak Out: The Truth About Campus Investigations (Academica Press, 2025). The book is an edited volume of twenty investigation memoirs from faculty members in the United States and Canada. Using real-life stories, it paints the reality that others have documented in numbers and data: that we are in the midst of an epidemic of academic inquests often conducted to settle scores, advance institutional goals, or punish faculty members for their speech.
For his fortitude and humor throughout his ordeals and his courage to defend academic freedom, the Columbia Academic Freedom Council is honored to present Dr. Nicholas H. Wolfinger with the 2025 Academic Freedom Award.
