Worst Colleges for Free Speech:

Every year since 2011, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) has published a list of the worst colleges for free speech in America. As always, each year's "worst of the worst" list is presented in no particular order, and they include both public and private institutions. Public colleges and universities are bound by the First Amendment; the private colleges on these lists, though not required by the Constitution to protect student and faculty speech rights, explicitly promise to do so.

Starting in 2018, FIRE also began awarding a Lifetime Censorship Award as part of these annual lists. This “honor” goes to the one college or university that is so frequently discussed as a contender for our annual worst colleges for free speech list that it deserves special recognition. DePaul University was the inaugural recipient in 2018. In following years, FIRE awarded the distinction to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University, Yale University, and Georgetown University. Lifetime Censorship Awards are not given out every year — only in those years where there is a particularly worthy recipient.

Worst Colleges for Free Speech in 2023

Hamline University (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Pennsylvania State University (State College, Pennsylvania)
Collin College (McKinney, Texas)
Texas A&M (College Station, Texas)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Emerson (Boston, Massachusetts)
Emporia State (Emporia, Kansas)
Tennessee Tech (Cookeville, Tennessee)
University of Oregon (Eugene, Oregon)
Loyola University New Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Lifetime Censorship Award: Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)

links:
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2022
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2021
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2020
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2019
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2018
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2017
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2016
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2014
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2013
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2012
Worst Colleges for Free Speech 2011

Lifetime Censorship Award Recipients:

GEORGETOWNYALESYRACUSER.P.I.DePAUL

Quote:Professors are censoring themselves to protect their career. This professor says it’s destroying academia

'Everybody walks on eggshells': A university professor resigning over DEI is unsurprised by college faculty's self-censorship

By Teny Sahakian | Fox News
Published March 14, 2023 5:30am EDT

{VIDEO}

How self-censorship is destroying academia

University of Alabama professor, Dr. Matthew Wielicki, said self-censorship by college professors is moving education "away from the foundations of academia."

Self-censorship is ruining academia as the majority of college professors fear speaking freely, a university professor resigning over diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives told Fox News.

"We're literally moving away from the foundations of academia," Matthew Wielicki told Fox News. "If professors have any hesitancy in their speech, if students are hesitant to ask questions, if there is a decrease in dialogue because of a fear of retribution—that's the fundamental principles that universities were founded on."

More than half of the nearly 1,500 college faculty members polled in a Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) survey published in December were afraid of losing their jobs or reputations because of their words being used against them, even if unfairly. About a third said they don't feel they can freely express their opinions.

{VIDEO}

PROFESSOR SAYS SELF-CENSORING IS RUINING ACADEMIA:

"I definitely experienced that," Wielicki said.

The earth science professor announced his resignation from the University of Alabama in January, citing the "obsession"over the school's push for equity in science. He tweeted that "the rise of illiberalism in the name of DEI is the antithesis of the principles that universities were founded on."

"I think when I started speaking out, it came very clear to me that saying what I said was very taboo," Wielicki told Fox News. "People called me a racist straight away when I didn't actually talk much about race at all."

GEOCHEMIST SAYS CLIMATE ALARMISM ‘ROBBING’ STUDENTS OF HOPE, AMBITION:

SCIENCE PROFESSOR SAYS CHALLENGING UNIVERSITY DIVERSITY AND CLIMATE INITIATIVES HAS BEEN 'CAREER SUICIDE'

He said the increasingly oppressive atmosphere on campuses leaves professors feeling like they can't ask questions or discuss controversial subjects with students.

"If you're a young faculty member and you've busted your butt to get to that position, you're not going to want to rock the boat," Wielicki said.


Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki is resigning from the University Of Alabama after speaking out about the harm DEI initiatives were having on students. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

Wielicki was most shocked by the FIRE survey's finding that, depending on the scenario, up to 36% of faculty endorsed their colleges formally investigating professors for controversial statements.

"Nobody really wants to discuss the issues, but they're more than happy to throw around some slander about you or call you names," he said.

Fear of speaking freely isn't isolated to conservative professors, the survey found, with 40% of liberal faculty also fearing retribution if they said something unfavorable.


The fear of speaking freely is not isolated to conservative professors, the FIRE survey found, with 40% of liberal faculty also fearing retribution if they say something unfavorable. (iStock)

"I think everybody walks on eggshells," Wielicki said.

"If there's one thing we've seen, it's that it doesn't really matter if you're in the tribe or not," he added. "If you say something wrong, that's enough to get you essentially ostracized and kicked out."

To watch the full interview with Wielicki, click here.

Stanford

more leftist's protecting free speech

The protesters, who were mostly wearing black, clashed with law enforcement officers and other students, including attendees of the event, as they smashed windows, hurled eggs, used pepper spray and blocked people from entering the University Credit Union Center, where the event was held.

I bet they were mostly peaceful.

(03-15-2023 03:33 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  more leftist's protecting free speech

The protesters, who were mostly wearing black, clashed with law enforcement officers and other students, including attendees of the event, as they smashed windows, hurled eggs, used pepper spray and blocked people from entering the University Credit Union Center, where the event was held.

I bet they were mostly peaceful.

Looks like they were trying to interrupt a lawful process