For the second year in a row, Harvard University’s “abysmal” free speech climate earned it the lowest ranking among 251 colleges and universities scored by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
“This year, however, Harvard has company. Columbia University ranks 250, also with an overall score of 0.00,” reads the report released Thursday.
New York University, University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College rounded out the bottom-five colleges, according to the report.
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Harvard University ranked dead last in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings. Harvard, Columbia and NYU were all slapped with an “abysmal” rating. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)
FIRE, a pro-First Amendment nonprofit, worked with College Pulse to survey tens of thousands of students about the free speech environments on their college campuses for its annual College Free Speech Rankings.
“We’re trying to provide an indication of where students can get the best experience in college in terms of being exposed to a diverse set of views,” FIRE’s chief research adviser Sean Stevens told Fox News Digital.
A Barnard spokesperson told Fox News Digital the college is “committed to protecting academic freedom and freedom of expression, and to fostering environments where students, faculty, and staff can engage in open and respectful dialogue.”
Barnard has adopted the Chicago Principles, a free speech policy previously endorsed by FIRE, and this school year a faculty committee will develop “a Barnard-specific framework,” the spokesperson continued.
Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
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The universities that ranked poorly all experienced incidents in which speech was censored, suppressed or shouted down, Stevens said. Since FIRE started ranking schools in 2020, the bottom-five colleges and universities have been “consistently bad performers,” he added.
“They rarely stand up for speech,” Stevens said. “When a controversy arises, the speech typically gets punished. A speaker gets disinvited. A faculty member gets sanctioned in some way, or a student or student organization does.”
The poor performers share another notable trait, according to FIRE’s analysis.
“Most of the students are very upset with how the administration has responded to protests over the past year,” Stevens said.
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment on the campus of Columbia University, pictured on April 29, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the war that followed “sent shockwaves through American college and university campuses,” according to the FIRE report. Protesters occupied the South Lawn at Columbia for about two weeks in April before police broke up the encampment.
After the start of the encampments, researchers noticed a large increase in the percentage of Columbia students who said they self-censor in classroom discussions or in conversations with professors or other students.
At the other end of the free speech spectrum, the University of Virginia earned the top ranking. Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University and Georgia Institute of Technology rounded out the top five.
The full rankings can be viewed here.
Stevens noted that the schools that performed well tended to have fewer controversies overall and, when controversies did arise, administrators typically defended speech rights.
He said he hopes parents and prospective students use FIRE’s ranking tool to make better-informed choices. The tool also provides a look at the liberal-conservative ratio on campuses, and a deeper look at student attitudes toward free expression.
“Experiencing open inquiry and that process, having to grapple and have their views challenged” sets students up to be better “adult citizens in our country, once they graduate,” Stevens said.
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FIRE and College Pulse surveyed students at 257 schools in total, but excluded six from the main rankings and gave them “warning” ratings.
The private colleges, which include Pepperdine University, Hillsdale College, and Brigham Young University, all “have policies that clearly and consistently state” that they prioritize “other values over a commitment to freedom of speech,” according to the FIRE report.
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