Harvard and Columbia rank last in 2025 Nonprofit Free Speech Scorecard

For the second year in a row, Harvard University’s “horrible” free speech climate earned it the lowest score of 251 colleges and universities rated by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

“This year, however, Harvard has company. Columbia University is ranked 250th, also with an overall score of 0.00,” the report, released Thursday, said.

According to the report, New York University, University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College are among the top five worst universities.

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Harvard University was ranked last in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings. Harvard, Columbia and NYU all received “horrible” ratings. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, Archive)

FIRE, a nonprofit that advocates for the First Amendment, partnered with College Pulse to survey tens of thousands of students about free speech on their college campuses for the annual College Free Speech Rankings.

“We’re trying to provide an indication of where students can get the best experience in college, in terms of exposure to a broad range of views,” Sean Stevens, FIRE’s chief research advisor, told Fox News Digital.

A Barnard spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the university “is committed to protecting academic freedom and freedom of expression, and to creating an environment in which students, faculty and staff can engage with one another in open and respectful ways.”

Barnard has adopted the Chicago Principles, a free speech policy previously endorsed by FIRE, and this school year a faculty committee will develop “a Barnard-specific framework,” the spokesperson continued.

Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

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The universities that scored poorly all had incidents of censorship, suppression or repression of speech, Stevens said. Since FIRE began ranking schools in 2020, the bottom five colleges and universities have “consistently underperformed,” he added.

“They rarely stand up for a speech,” Stevens said. “When there is a controversy, the speech is usually sanctioned. A speaker is expelled. A faculty member is sanctioned in some way, or a student or student organization.”

According to FIRE’s analysis, underperformers have another striking characteristic in common.

“Most students are very angry about the way the school board has responded to the protests over the past year,” Stevens said.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters set up camp on the campus of Columbia University, pictured on April 29, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the war that followed “sent shock waves through American college and university campuses,” the FIRE report said. Protesters occupied Columbia’s South Lawn for about two weeks in April before police broke up the camp.

After the camps began, researchers noticed a large increase in the percentage of Columbia students who reported censoring themselves during class discussions or in conversations with professors or other students.

At the other end of the free speech spectrum, the University of Virginia earned the top ranking. Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University and Georgia Institute of Technology rounded out the top five.

You can view the full ranking here.

Stevens noted that high-performing schools generally had fewer controversies and that when controversies did arise, administrators typically defended the right to free speech.

He said he hopes parents and prospective students will use FIRE’s ranking tool to make more informed choices. The tool also offers a look at the liberal-conservative divide on campuses and a deeper look at students’ attitudes toward free speech.

“By giving students experience with open inquiry and that process of confronting and challenging their own positions, they are better equipped to become adult citizens in our country once they graduate,” Stevens said.

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FIRE and College Pulse surveyed students from a total of 257 schools but excluded six from the main rankings, giving them a “warning” rating.

According to the FIRE report, the private colleges, including Pepperdine University, Hillsdale College and Brigham Young University, all have “policies that clearly and consistently indicate” that they “value other values ​​more than free speech.”