Spotlight on Speech Codes Reports

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2013: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

FIRE’s seventh annual speech codes report, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2013: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses, reveals that more than three-fifths of the 409 colleges and universities analyzed maintain policies that seriously infringe upon the free speech rights of students. For the fifth consecutive year, however, this percentage has dropped. In another encouraging development, more schools eliminated all of their restrictive speech codes in 2012, earning FIRE's highest, "green light" rating. The report also discusses concerns about new waves of campus censorship potentially facilitated by poorly crafted federal and state regulations and legislation regarding bullying and harassment.

 

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2012: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

FIRE's sixth annual speech codes report, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2012: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses, reveals that 65 percent of the 392 colleges and universities analyzed maintain policies that seriously infringe upon the free speech rights of students. For the fourth consecutive year, this percentage has dropped, falling from 75 percent in 2009. In another encouraging development, several schools eliminated all of their restrictive speech codes this year. Despite these positive trends, FIRE's report identifies troubling new legislative and regulatory threats to campus expression.

 

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2011: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

FIRE's fifth annual report on campus speech codes, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2011: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses reveals that 67 percent of the 390 colleges and universities analyzed maintain policies that seriously infringe upon students' free speech rights. While this number has dropped from 71 percent since last year, alarming trends on the horizon suggest that a surge in restrictions may be immiment if supporters of free speech do not remain vigilant.

 

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2010: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

FIRE's fourth annual report on campus speech codes, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2010: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses reports on policies at 375 of the largest and most prestigious American colleges and universities. FIRE found that while the percentage of public campuses that unconstitutionally restrict student speech dropped from 77 percent to 71 percent, the percentage of private campuses that similarly restrict freedom of speech has risen by 3 points from 67 to 70 percent.

 

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2009: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

FIRE's third annual report on campus speech codes, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2009: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses found that American colleges and universities continue to systematically violate students' and faculty members' right to freedom of expression. Of the 364 institutions surveyed in the report, approximately 270 of them—74 percent—maintain policies that clearly restrict speech that would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment. The incidence of unconstitutional speech codes is significantly higher at public universities (77%) than at private universities (67%), which is striking in light of the fact that public universities, as government entities, are obligated to uphold the guarantees of the First Amendment.

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2007: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

FIRE's second annual speech code report, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2007: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses, surveyed over 345 schools and found that an overwhelming majority of them continue to explicitly prohibit various forms of expression that are protected by the First Amendment. This report continues FIRE's efforts to document and make the public aware of the ongoing scandal of colleges and universities—public and private—that claim to value free speech while actually restricting this most basic right of their students and faculty members.

Spotlight on Speech Codes 2006: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses

FIRE's first annual speech code report, Spotlight on Speech Codes 2006: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses, surveyed over 330 schools and found that an overwhelming majority of them explicitly prohibit speech that, outside the borders of campus, is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The report is the most comprehensive effort to date to quantify both the number of schools that significantly restrict students' and faculty members' speech and the severity of those restrictions.

Update, December 7, 2006
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