CAMPUS

FIRE Report Shows Widespread Restriction of Free Speech on Campuses

Today FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) released a report on the state of free speech in American universities, finding that 74 percent of the 364 campuses studied significantly limit speech on campus. (Full PDF of the report here, summary of findings here.)

Among the more surprising of the findings, FIRE also reports that public universities are more restrictive of speech than private colleges. Considering that public universities, being part of the state, are explicitly bound by the Constitution, one would expect the results to be opposite*.

FIRE also finds that the biggest trend in repressing free speech is the growth of “bias incidents” and broad-sweeping harassment codes. Public universities are increasingly placing the right to not be offended above the right to speak one’s mind.

*I’m reminded of this NYT article on Muslim students in France who are abandoning the strictly secular public schools to attend private Catholic schools, where they are allowed to wear headscarves and pray.