Free speech challenges ranked at 14 Pennsylvania universities

(The Center Square) – Growing intolerance toward opposing views at colleges and universities has given rise to demands for censorship and de-platforming, creating challenges to free speech on campuses across the country, a new survey shows.

These challenges have been exacerbated by an election year and polarized views over the Oct. 7 attack on Isreal by Hamas and the ensuing war in Gaza.

The report ranked 251 schools based on the responses of over 58,000 students on their perceptions and experiences regarding free speech on their campuses. The analysis “2025 College Free Speech Rankings” was compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, in conjunction with College Pulse.

Of the 14 Pennsylvania schools on the list, only Carnegie Mellon University – ranked 41 overall – earned a “slightly above average” speech climate rating. Conversely, the University of Pennsylvania, the commonwealth’s largest college, sits in the bottom five at #248 and rated “very poor.”

UPenn made headlines this year after a weekslong pro-Palestine encampment caused uproar. On Aug. 26, the campus temporarily banned overnight demonstrations.

The top-ranked school nationally is the University of Virginia, with a 73.41 overall score and a “good” rating, with Michigan Technological and Florida State Universities following closely behind.

Eastern Kentucky University and Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus, with “above average” ratings, round out the top five.

Harvard University came in dead last – for the second year in a row – scoring 0.00. Joining them in the bottom three are Columbia and New York Universities with scores of 0.00 and 3.33, respectively. All three are rated “abysmal” for speech climate.

The University of Pennsylvania (12.50) and Barnard College (15.62) round out the bottom five – each rated “very poor.”

Sean Stevens, FIRE’s chief research advisor, told The Center Square that UPenn’s ranking has been fairly consistent over the five years the study has been conducted.

He said several incidents impacted their score this year, citing one in particular – a Palestinian Literature Festival planned prior to Oct. 7 – that drew a lot of controversy, resulting in some speakers being disinvited.

The report says all five bottom schools experienced controversies involving the suppression of free expression. They also received significantly lower scores than the top five schools on “Administrative Support,” “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” and “Tolerance Difference,” which measure the strength of students’ favoritism when it comes to allowing liberal or conservative speakers on campus.

After student encampment protests began, FIRE conducted an additional survey, allowing them to measure changes in speech climate. That report found a decrease in students’ trust in administrators at schools like Columbia, NYU, and Barnard, to protect free speech after police were called in and protesters were arrested.

The survey found that 54% of students said it is difficult to “have an open and honest conversation” about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on campus – a record high for a topic. At least 75% of students on 17 campuses surveyed responded this way to the question.

Additionally, a majority said that six of eight hypothetical controversial campus speakers should “probably” or “definitely” not be allowed on campus.

Student concerns about self-censorship have declined though. This year, 17% said they feel like they cannot express their opinion on a subject, at least a few times per week, because of how students, a professor, or the administration would respond. This is down from 20% last year, and 22% in 2022.

How did other Pennsylvania schools fare?

• Temple, Lehigh, Bucknell and Drexel Universities, and Franklin and Marshall College were rated “average.”
• Villanova University and Haverford College were rated “slightly below average.”
• Gettysburg and Lafayette Colleges, the University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne and Penn State Universities were rated “below average.”

Stevens noted a concerning trend at Pitt; the percentage of students’ approval of various types of “liberal protest tactics” used to oppose a campus speech has all increased.

The report shows a national trend in which the percentages of students who said “shouting down a speaker, blocking other students from entering an event, and using violence to stop a campus speech” is at least “rarely” acceptable, have all increased since last year. However, Stevens said that since 2021, the trend is “a bit starker on the Pitt campus from what we found.”

The full report is available on the FIRE and College Pulse.