Nearly three-quarters of colleges and universities maintain unconstitutional speech codes, according to a report released today by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The group, known as FIRE, gave 270 of 364 institutions a “red light” for having “at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.” In last year’s report, FIRE gave 259 of 346 colleges and universities that designation: 74.9 percent, compared with 74.2 percent this year.
In its news release announcing the report, the group quotes from a few universities’ antiharassment policies and lists recent targets of its Speech Code Litigation Project. The group has recently represented students in battles against the State University of New York at Binghamton, Temple University, Valdosta State University, and the University of Delaware. —Sara Lipka
