In fact, many who were shocked at the English Department’s decision bought the matter to the provost and president. Zimmer made a public statement that seemed quite fair and reasonable (IMO). You can read it here: https://president.uchicago.edu/page/reinforcing-chicago-principles-and-kalven-report
This isn’t quite accurate. It’s pretty clear that they received a warning because they removed their statement from their department website. Furthermore, in a year that saw basically no admissions to English PhD programs anywhere, a quick perusal of the English department site at UChicago suggests that the 2020 cohort isn’t distinct from prior years, either in research interest or student admitted. If anything, it’s the English Department, and not the university, that appears to be disguising a marketing ploy behind some “principled” statement or other.
The Kalven Report was generated in the wake of political and societal upheaval in the '60’s. While Zimmer no doubt has made “free speech” a major platform issue, he’s not inventing anything new. University of Chicago News