Michigan Technical University came in first, and Harvard University was dead last in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (FIRE) latest college free speech rankings. The rankings are formed from the results of a survey of 55,000 students.
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Roughly 72% of students who responded said they oppose conservative speakers on their campus. On the other hand, 43% said they oppose allowing a liberal speaker.
27% of students said using violence to stop free speech on campus is acceptable to some degree. That number is up from 20% the previous year.
As for self-censorship, 26% of respondents said they censor themselves a few times a week while in conversations with their friends. 25% said they’re more likely to censor themselves now compared to when they started college.
When it comes to talking about particular subjects, 49% of students said abortion is difficult to talk about honestly while conversing on campus.
The college free speech rankings also factored in each school’s “speech code rating.” According to FIRE, schools without policies that imperil free speech rose in the rankings. Schools with restrictive speech codes fell.
Only 47 schools had a campus speech climate rated as “slightly above average” or better. The top four schools, which all had “good” ratings, include:
- Michigan Tech.
- Auburn University.
- University of New Hampshire.
- Oregon State University.
Harvard landed all the way at the bottom of the rankings, receiving the only “abysmal” rating out of all 248 schools. According to FIRE, the worst five schools in the rankings had an 81% success rate on deplatforming attempts. Those schools include:
- Harvard.
- University of Pennsylvania.
- University of South Carolina.
- Georgetown University.
- Fordham University.
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