Harvard Is Last in Free Speech Rankings — Second Year in a Row

Harvard University ranks last in the nation among colleges and universities for free speech — for the second year in a row.

That’s according to the annual rankings produced by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

Last year, as Breitbart News reported, Harvard came last:

Harvard University has been named 2023’s worst school for free speech by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The organization recently released its annual college free speech rankings, in which it dubbed the state of free speech at the Ivy League school “abysmal.” Harvard’s rating of zero out of 100 is a full 11 points lower than its closest woke rival.

In a press release Thursday, FIRE said:

The largest report of its kind, the rankings draw from more than 58,000 student responses representing more than 250 colleges and universities nationwide. The report arrives at a time when protest over the Israel-Hamas war has put campus speech concerns at the forefront of the national conversation for nearly a year.

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Harvard University retained its position as the lowest-ranked institution for free speech for the second consecutive year. Harvard, Columbia University, New York University all received an “Abysmal” rating for their speech climates. The University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College round out the bottom five. These schools not only have low levels of administrative support for free speech. They also have low levels of student comfort in expressing their views on controversial political topics and a strong bias in favor of allowing liberal speakers on campus over conservative ones.

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FIRE also released a supplementary report examining the impact of this year’s encampment protests. According to the encampment report, 15% of students said they feel “very” or “somewhat” unsafe on their campus right now, and 37% of students said the police response to encampments on campuses across the country makes them feel “very” or “somewhat” unsafe on their own campus.

FIRE reported that the University of Virginia had the best record on free speech, while Harvard ranked dead last, at number 251 of 251 schools.

One type of speech is protected at Harvard: when commencement speaker and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa made antisemitic remarks during her speech at graduation, most of those gathered gave her a standing ovation. A rabbi participating in the graduation asked her to clarify her remarks; when she refused, he walked off the stage.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.