Students and campus groups are facing investigations and punishment over free speech from administrators and government officials at an unprecedented rate over the last two years, according to a new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Also known as FIRE, the free speech watchdog created a database monitoring all free speech controversies that developed at two- and four-year nonprofit institutions between 2020 and 2024. A free speech controversy is a publicly known effort to have a student or campus group disciplined by the administration or student government for some form of expression.
“When you see campuses that do not welcome different points of view, it really goes against 100 years of our history and what we stand for,” says Shaun Carver, executive director of International House, a cultural center at the University of California, Berkeley.
Some of the chief findings include:
- Over 1,000 efforts to punish students for their speech in a five-year span, nearly two-thirds (63%) of which resulted in some form of administrative punishment.
- 637 college students and groups were punished or at least investigated by administrators.
- 72 students or groups were suspended
- 55 were expelled, lost student group funding or were separated from their university
- 19 more were unenrolled under ambiguous circumstances
In 2020, only 27% of cases were initiated by administrators. By 2024, that number increased to 52%.
Administrator-led investigations and punishments of students began to tick up following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and ensuing protests condemning Israel’s military response. College leaders initiated more than half (52%) of all cases in 2024, an increase of 25 percentage points from 2020.
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Additionally, conservative government officials and politicians have led more attempts to punish student free speech on campus than in any other period since 2023.
In one case, administrators at Northern Michigan University suspended a student for sending a survey about mental health services on campus to his peers. The university dropped the charges following public backlash and legal pressure.
Prior to 2023, students and student groups were mostly targeted by other students. Mostly concerning the George Floyd protests in 2020 and the year following, speech controversies typically surrounded race and were initiated by left-leaning students.
Carver believes institutions can prevent free speech controversies by depoliticizing their campuses and ensuring all groups have a platform to speak without disruption.
“Campuses haven’t protected everyone’s right to speak. They allowed the student body to decide who would be allowed on campus and who wouldn’t. That’s not supporting free speech.”
