Respect for Free Speech Reportedly Gaining Ground on College Campuses
“percentage of red light institutions has been consistently shrinking throughout the last decade”
After the year we just had, anything would be an improvement.
Campus Reform reported:
SURVEY: Free speech gradually gaining ground on campus
A new survey of 461 colleges and universities around the country found that roughly one in three schools still maintain policies that drastically limit free speech on campus.
According to an annual study conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), 32.3 percent of colleges and universities surveyed “received FIRE’s lowest, red light rating for maintaining speech codes that clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech.”
The “Spotlight on Speech Codes” report, however, notes that the percentage of red light institutions has been consistently shrinking throughout the last decade, pointing out that “This year’s figure is seven percentage points lower than last year and almost 42 percentage points lower than in FIRE’s 2009 report.”
According to the report, 58.6 percent of the schools earned a “yellow light” rating for instituting policies that “restrict narrower categories of speech than red light policies do, or are vaguely worded in a way that could too easily be used to suppress protected speech, and are unconstitutional at public universities.”
Only 37 institutions earned the highest “green light” rating from FIRE, and are considered to have policies that do not infringe on the free speech rights of students. The total, however, is still an improvement from the mere eight schools that received the same rating in 2009.
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