Campus Restrictions on Free Speech Hit All Time Low, According to Study

Campus Restrictions on Free Speech Hit All Time Low, According to Study

This is good news. The last ten years or so were pretty rough for free speech.

Campus Reform reports:

Record low number of schools restricting free speech, study finds

A new study from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has found that the number of schools maintaining restrictive policies on student expression has hit an all-time low.

The organization’s annual Spotlight on Speech Codes report found that the number of overall schools with a “red light” rating fell to 13.2 percent, while just 9.8 percent of public schools earned the designation. Red light ratings are given to schools with policies “that clearly and substantially restrict free speech.”

In the group’s first study published in 2006, 68.6 percent of schools earned red light ratings.

Conversely, schools with a “green light” rating have policies that “do not seriously threaten protected expression.” This year’s report found that a total of 76 schools earned such a rating, the second time that they have outnumbered ones with a red light rating.

The report also found that many schools have adopted policies explicitly protecting free speech. A total of 120 administrations and faculty bodies adopted policies similar to the “Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression,” which was adopted at the University of Chicago in 2015 following “events nationwide that have tested institutional commitments to free and open discourse.”

A further 47 schools adopted policies reflecting the principles of the “Report on the University’s Role in Political and Social Action,” another product of the University of Chicago from 1967 that affirms the school’s commitment to institutional neutrality.

The study’s author, FIRE Senior Program Counsel Ryan Ansloan, celebrated the findings in a press release while noting the possible reasons for the improvements.

“Even one restrictive policy is one too many, but there’s reason to be hopeful,” Ansloan remarked. “We’re seeing major improvements in campus policymaking, and campuses that were once hotbeds of censorship are overhauling problematic policies.”

“Pressure from many state legislatures, as well as the reelection of Donald Trump and subsequent federal investigations, lawsuits, and shifts in research funding, have prompted internal review at many schools,” he continued. “We hope this will translate to taking the side of free speech when controversies arise.”

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