The 2021 College Free Speech Rankings
Based upon the opinions of over 37,000 students at 159 top American colleges, it's the largest survey of campus free expression ever performed.
This is very eye opening and scary since eventually my kids have to go to college (I hope). Free speech is our fundamental right.
- More than 80% of students report self-censoring their viewpoints at their colleges at least some of the time, with 21% saying they censor themselves often.
- Generally, students showed much greater intolerance for campus speakers with conservative positions.
- Racial inequality, abortion, and gun control top the list of most difficult subjects to discuss.
- 66% of students report some level of acceptance for speaker shout-downs (up 4 percentage points from FIRE’s 2020 report) and 23% consider it acceptable for people to use violence to stop certain speech (up 5 percentage points). Two elite women’s colleges, Wellesley College and Barnard College, top this list, supporting the use of violence at 45% and 43% respectively.
- Only a third of students say that their college administration makes it either very or extremely clear that they will protect free speech on campus.
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