The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) recently released their College Free Speech Rankings for the 2022-2023 academic year. They conducted a survey of 44,847 students enrolled in 208 four-year universities across the U.S., and considered many aspects of what constitutes a free-speech culture. They asked about student perceptions on comfort expressing ideas, tolerance for liberal speakers, tolerance for conservative speakers, disruptive content, and administrative support. They also graded administrative behavior using the number of students whose speech right were supported, the number sanctioned, the number of speakers disinvited, and their FIRE speech code rating which evaluates the actual written policies of the schools. The results are combined to give a rating from 0 (worst) to 100 (best).
Typically they received 200 to 250 responses from each university. They did try to choose representative samples of students. The complete results and more details may be found here. The top-rated schools are the University of Chicago (77.92), Kansas State (76.20), Purdue (75.81), Mississippi State (74.72), Oklahoma State (74.35), Claremont McKenna (72.65), North Carolina-Greensboro (68,72), Northern Arizona (68.50), North Carolina State (67.93), and Oregon State (67.42). The bottom ten are Columbia (9.91), Penn (14.32), RPI (18.6), Georgetown (20.48), Skidmore (21.51), Yale (22.65), Northwestern (23.09), Pitzer (23.51), Scripps (26.35), and Santa Clara (26.50).
That the University of Chicago is at the top is no surprise since it is the birthplace of the Chicago Principles of Free Speech . They are also ranked first for its administration’s policies. That they are not close to 100 in absolute score seems to indicate that the anti-free speech pressure there comes from the students and faculty; the FIRE survey also reported the liberal/conservative mix of the respondents, and Chicago was 80% liberal. Among the rest of the top five, Kansas State was only 43% liberal, Purdue 52%, Mississippi State 34%, and Oklahoma State 45%. Although not perfect, there was a negative correlation (coefficient -0.49) between the fraction of the student body that identified as liberal and the FIRE rating.
It is interesting to compare how the ratings vary with region of the country. To do this, I used NCAA conferences as a proxy for region (it was easier that way). The average FIRE rating, average ranking of the administration’s policies, and liberal percentage are shown in the following table for the Power 5 NCAA conferences plus the Ivy league, which includes 74 of the 208 universities studied. TCU was not included in the rankings, so they are not included in the Big 12’s numbers. (Unfortunately, Alfred University was not in the rankings, either.) The Admin number is shown as a ranking, rather than an absolute number, out of 203 schools. (Brigham Young, Baylor, Hillsdale, Pepperdine, and Saint Louis University, are not included in the Admin rankings since they were ranked separately due to their having policies that state that they prioritize other values over a commitment to freedom of speech, according to the statement on the FIRE website.)
Other than the Ivy league, which is predictably below average, there is not much to choose among the other conferences’ average FIRE ratings. The numbers in parentheses show the results after the future switch of Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 to the SEC and the addition of BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida to the Big 12, which will happen in the next few years. The Big 12 and SEC have the least liberal student bodies, and the Big 12 is markedly better than the others when it came to administration policies, especially after Texas and Oklahoma defect to the SEC.
There were definitely variations within a conference. The following table shows the top three and bottom three ratings and admin rankings for schools in each conference, with the Big 12 and SEC shown both before and after the realignment. I have to give a special notice to Iowa State, where I taught for 33 years; I was pleased to see they fare pretty well, relatively speaking, although their absolute rating is only just a little above average.
There are some schools that had a bad rating even with a good Admin ranking. For example, Central Florida has the worst rating in the Big 12 even though they have the third-best Admin ranking there. Similarly for Columbia in the Ivy League, and Georgia in the SEC, which has the fourth best Admin ranking there but the worst rating. UC-Berkeley has the best Admin ranking in the PAC 12, offsetting their highly liberal student body (at 92%, the most liberal of the schools considered here), and ended up with an average FIRE rating. The most conservative student body is at Missisippi State, where only 34% identified as liberal.
One more factoid: among the schools in the Power 5 conferences, the “State University” schools are all rated better than the corresponding “University of” schools, except for Arizona and Arizona State. I suspect that’s due to the “State” schools tending to have more agriculture and engineering specialties; at least that’s the case here in Iowa.
Once again, you can see all of the ratings at the FIRE link above.
Go Purdue!
I’m happy about that too. They have Mitch Daniels in charge, who was a decent governor. The teachers I know on FB hate him, and expected him to completely ruin Purdue. I don’t hear anyone complaining now. He’s done a great job, and even locked in tuition rates to protect students from major increases.
I’ve noticed that Purdue has also had a big push towards online classes — Purdue Global.
Yes. As far as I know, that is also going well.
They did crazy things like not hire swarms of administrative types, and if there were cuts, it was them, not professors who went…cost control, amazing!
Woo hoo!
Also, Oklahoma was pretty hyper-lefty when I went there, but wasn’t officially censorious.
There was a tradition of sidewalk chalking on campus there.
Somewhat surprising that an alleged polytechnic institute would be ranked so badly.
I recall seeing a brochure from RPI way back when my oldest sister was college shopping in the ’70s. IIRC, they were going all in for doing away with traditional grading, so I think they were among the early adopters of all that was crunchy groovy at tragically hip institutions of “higher” ed
That struct me too.
“Struck”, even.
Um…yay?
Of course the Admin rating is only part of the overall. Student and faculty behavior can drag down a school’s overall rating even if the Admin is OK.
Miami University-Oxford – 101st overall, ratio of Liberal:Conservative is 1.2:1, which doesn’t seem bad and may be due to the large business school.
Hmmmmm….. 😏
My alma mater is #35 – huh. Not bad for a big public school in a hard-left state.
The tuition is now 10x what I paid lol
When the inevitable crash comes, I wonder if the better schools here are left standing.
My kids’ school came in as just average, which jives with what they’ve said. Their favorite econ prof, though, is a hardcore Austrian, which is nice. He’s also my daughter’s advisor so that will help.
FIRE did good work with both Brandon’s and my alma mater.
Victory for Free Speech in University of Delaware Lawsuit
Huh.
I’m not surprised by where I went for an undergrad being in the middle.
I am surprised about where I went for my grad work being in the middle. I expected it to be lower.
Georgia Tech — Comfort Express Ideas 122nd.
Of course they are, considering the student body. I am not sure that has anything to do with Free Speech though.
The 6.2:1 liberal:conservative, if true, means things have changed dramatically in the last 30 years.
I’m late to the party, but that’s what I came here to say. “If true” is a big deal of course, but that’s basically reversed from my perception 30 years ago. I interview a good number of Tech students for intern or full-time hire positions, and my sense is that it’s probably more 50/50, which is still sad. That’s after we do some sorting, though.
Millennials were weird, and I think things got weirder since.
A situation I’m familiar with, an interviewee announces wife’s employment situation where she quit because she can’t advocate some rising position. Okay, well, every organization is welcome to orient politically however it chooses, but, my man: at your house you think your opinions matter at work and you’ll quit if you can’t bullhorn it down the hallways? It’s not enough for you to have your website and books and vote how you like and write a letter to the editor every year….you can’t sit still for eight hours…by the way, this is a job: we expect productivity that improves the firm’s value…and do what you’re told without turning every trip to the water cooler into a march on Selma?
The return to the office is full of similar weirdness: can I bring my kid? How many days do I hafta come in? No and zero: just don’t come back at all if you’re tired of our money. It’s a job…it’s not where you actualize unless you own the fucking joint. Go home and get fulfilled; run for governor. This here office is for building and selling….that’s where the money comes from.
Believe whatever shit you want……..on your own fucking time. I miss the formal office: when people suited up, they got their head into game space for work. Loosen the tie on the way out to the parking lot….of course, enjoy, corner bar, dinner with the family: after we feed the bulldog.
You’d love this commercial that airs before some of the Australian news podcasts I listen to:
“Why do people want to be at work? To feel heard, appreciated, part of something, and to know there’s a career path for everyone. Inclusive workplaces are lined to increased innovation, productivity, and employee satisfaction. Make your organization a place where people WANT to be. For inclusion and diversity training, visit [website].”
*soooo glad there’s none of this crap at my job*
LOL. Hopkins is 173rd.
No surprises there.
Sorry, 193rd
“In writing/reading classes, every text I was assigned follows the same ideology (which is the ideology most students follow). Any time when a discussion on these reading assignments took place, I would have to silence myself from having an open conversation and remember that people no longer have an open mind to other beliefs. It was also a pretty quick discovery that the more I agreed with my teacher’s ideologies (which I do not hold) in writing assignments, the higher the grade I would get.”
As I recall, the writing seminars classes were always staffed by assholes.
In general, Hopkins students and staff consider themselves to already be or aspire to be members of the technocracy. Even my fellow grads from thirty years ago fall into that characterization. I’ve had to write off quite a few, some because I disagreed with them over civil liberties and they called me a closet racist. I’m not exaggerating.
So much for the cauldron of ideas.
OT – You’ll appreciate.
Horrifying video shows woman cheat death as NYC crane falls on ca
Did the crane make bail?
Depends how it is painted.
My school – average. Sad. We used to hold an annual earth day smokathon in the quad, no one complained. The bush years were wild, man.
Tennessee is a paternalist shithole with some obvious consequences (just my anecdotes; I defer to the analysis). They’re fighting a lawsuit for having tried to coerce a grad student into changing her facebook posts. Okay, dumb admin starts something, dumb staff attorney files over objections….best spin I can imagine and possibly a forgivable beginning to a problem….but then administration affirms and pours fuel on the fire. It’s like when a city council or a governor burns tax dollars on an inevitable loser.
I remain convinced that the goal should not be to fix public education but rather to eliminate it. I should not be subsidizing this behavior.
My school isn’t listed, so I am going OT with our favorite fact checker:
So it moves the heartbeat out from six or seven weeks to 10 or 11.
Not if I say life beings at electrical activity. *wiggles eyebrows*
*cough* bullshit *cough*
Have him explain how an ultrasound device can pick up electrical impulses.
Everybody knows fetuses discharge massive amounts of static.
Pretty sure it’s Magick, but I will defer to Not Adahn on that topic.
The receiver of an ultrasound machine is essentially a well calibrated microphone.
I was wondering about this as well. It’s an acoustic technology. So, what the hell is he talking about?
Who the fuck knows?
A large enough electrical impulse could be picked up as an acoustical disturbance, but that would also be large enough to kill the fetus.
Also ponder that if an embryo’s nervous system is strong enough to be detected on an ultra sound, what that would imply for ultrasounds on adults with fully developed nervous systems and much stronger signals.
My alma mater (Boston University) comes in at #151. It was shitty when I was there, so this is completely unsurprising.
Liberal to conservative ratio? 8.2:1
Overall grade – 38.36
8.2 to 1
Damn, that’s some slim pickins
My ratio at SUNY Buffalo said 2.5 to 1 – it’s all hicks from the sticks and Lawn Guylanders.
Well, it is nice to see that the Uni where my wife is an admin is one of the better ones, although it is still a bit of a shit show. Also, my school is not on there, but even as a top ten engineering school, it is still a shit show.
Question though. Were is the University of Oregon? WA seems to be listed twice, but I am not sure which is which.
My table only lists the top and bottom 3 — the link will have all the others. Oregon is #130 with a 41.58 rating. Washington is there for being among the worst in (overall) rating and also for just the admin ranking.
Where ya going, Big Guy?
He don’t know.
Rebuilding our reputation among other countries, one press conference at a time.
Hair, hair, must get hair.
Gavin Newsom was there?
My school is not listed. Oh well.
Mine isn’t listed, but I can imagine where it would fit.
When I was there, half the student body were teaching majors. You do the math. 😉
Of course, the other half were business majors.
“You do the math” because the teaching majors probably can’t.
Thanks, Whiz.
My son’s school is too insignificant to appear in these rankings, I suppose, but based on anecdotal evidence from the spawn I think it’s pretty good.
About a year ago he consented to an interview with the school paper with regards to one of his professors who was in hot water over vaccination status (said prof is no longer there), disregarding any and all of our attempts to dissuade him. Now, a year later, he is still seething over a quote which was published without proper context. I may have convinced him to let sleeping dogs lie since there were no negative repercussions in the first place and everyone has by now forgotten about it. But he is hard headed (why, I wonder) so who knows.
Thanks. Good to hear that there were no repercussions — his school must be one of the better ones.
As someone who considers himself a “liberal”, I’m not really a fan of that dichotomy.
It should be “liberal” and “statist”.
Old time liberal rant from Phil Ochs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bLqKXrlD1TU
The description of the DAR is worth the price of admission.
Daughters Of the Revolution?
My grandmother had a DAR number.
Not “daughters” in this version…
Urthona — I agree, but it’s using the definition more people understand. Making it a simple dichotomy also does not allow for any nuance.
My school like my state is in the middle of the of the road as far as the county goes, while being a regional outlier towards the side of sanity.
A well written summary that hits on why De Santis should run for president in 2 years. He hits on my distaste for Trump as well as why De Santis has no real opposition beyond the orange man in the primary.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/09/22/an-open-letter-to-ron-desantis/
I haven’t been particularly encouraged by the e-mails that come from our Alumni Association…
Dude, it was that way long before you voted for Biden two years ago.
*taps out*
I’m actually not surprised to see BYU at the bottom. However, compared to my high school, BYU was a veritable free-for-all.
My dorm complex had a tee shirt contest. My dorm’s brother dorm was disqualified for having a tee shirt that read, “At Hinckley Hall, we’ve upped our standards.” And on the back it said, “So up yours.” The art was top-notch, too. Yeah, the masterminds of that stunt were punished.
I like it.
Related
The Girls of BYU !
Show me some ankle!
I like it.
I remember sneaking up the back stairs of the women’s dorm at BYU with a high school buddy just to go visit his sister. I guess it would have been scandalous had we been caught.
How does FIRE account for the possibility that “liberal” leaning respondents may tend to overestimate the tolerance for conservative voices, and vice versa?
I think intolerance was measured from the responses of those who felt like they weren’t being tolerated, rather than asking people directly “are you tolerant.” Of course, people can also complain without any real substance to it. It’s far from perfect.
William and Mary is ranked 12th, which I find hard to believe.
That school is like a nunnery for Hillary clones.
They certainly have a very liberal student body (5.6 to 1). And, of course, it’s a relative ranking.
Go Maroons! Our sports teams suck, but we got Nobels and free speech.
Maybe the B1G can kick Northwestern out and bring U of C back in!
I like it.
Are the squash courts still radioactive?
This is how you science and headline write.
Early Puberty in Girls Surged in The Pandemic, And We May Finally Know Why
No wonder I’ve got bitch tits now.
Hey, me too. IFLS.
We should go to support groups together and then start a fight club.
Don’t lose ‘em before I get a quick squeeze.
Interesting. I have two nieces who used to hang out with each other a lot, both are 10. One is still very much a kid, bless her heart. The other one thinks she’s hot stuff because she got her period, and thinks the first one acts like a baby. Guess which one has her own phone that she’s on all day and night, and which one has a “bad” mom who limits her electronics? (We were also “bad” parents who didn’t let our kids have phones until they were well into high school or older).
OMWC hardest hit.
For some related data, the Florida state university system did a legislatively-mandated survey of faculty and students on “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity”.
You can get the full report here (warning: 54 pages).
To me, what it mostly shows is that the overwhelming majority of faculty and students want to be noncombatants in the culture wars.
I took the survey; it was under 10 minutes to complete. Even so the response rate was in the low single digits. To me that says that most people just want to be left the hell alone to go about their business.
Wisconsin, while still a shitty 48, was ranked higher than I expected. When I went there the profs would give me a terrible grade if I a) did poor work or 2) wrote something they ideologically disagreed with. It was hard to tell which was which for a pothead 19 year old.