Brown has risen 42 places in the 2026 College Free Speech Rankings compared to last year, according to a set of rankings compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. But it still remains near the bottom of U.S. universities.
FIRE is a nonprofit organization focused on protecting “free speech and free thought” on U.S. college campuses, according to their mission statement.
The overall score, totaled out of 100, “reflects how open and supportive a campus is for free speech, based on student surveys, campus policies and recent speech-related controversies,” the organization’s website reads.
Despite these gains, Brown still ranks 187th out of a total 257 schools on the list, with an overall score of 55.2 out of 100 and an overall letter grade of F.
“It may be more accurate to say that Brown hasn’t improved so much as other schools have gotten worse,” Luther Spoehr, a senior lecturer emeritus of education, wrote in an email to The Herald.
Besides a slight dip in 2024, Brown’s overall scores have remained steady.
“I don’t find this surprising, given the continuity of ongoing campus issues and Brown's demographics,” Spoehr wrote. “But unforeseen external events — from events abroad to federal involvement in higher education here in the U.S. — could shake things up fast.”
The University did not reply to several requests for comment.
As for the letter grade, “FIRE doesn’t grade on a curve,” Spoehr noted. Of the 257 schools, 167 institutions — or about 65% — received an “F.” Brown received an “F” for both administrative support and political tolerance on campus.
According to Spoehr, Brown’s low ranking is likely due to controversies that have affected universities beyond just Brown.
“The past year has featured bitter, sometimes violent disputes, especially the Israel-Hamas conflict, at schools across the country,” Spoehr wrote. “Brown is obviously no exception.”
FIRE singled out three “speech controversies” at Brown, the most recent one being the University’s investigation of former student Alex Shieh. In March, Shieh launched Bloat@Brown, a database evaluating university administrators’ jobs modeled after the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. He has since left Brown to build a startup.
Brown also received a spotlight rating of “yellow” due to “vague written policies.” The spotlight ranking rates “regulations on student expression based on the extent to which they restrict free speech.”
According to FIRE, the University could earn a “green light” score if it adopts the University of Chicago’s Statement for Free Speech “to affirm its commitment to free expression.” The statement, released in 2015, emphasizes a commitment to “free, robust and uninhibited debate and deliberation.” Over 100 institutions have endorsed the statement.
“I doubt that ranking schools down to the decimal point on a 100-point scale is nearly as precise as it tries to look,” Spoehr wrote. “But student responses to survey questions about such things as whether it’s ever justified to respond to speech with violence are revealing.”
About 375 respondents filled out FIRE’s student survey about how they “perceive free speech” on Brown’s campus. The survey was open between January and June 2025.
Samah Hamid is a senior staff writer at the Herald. She is from Sharon, Massachusetts and plans to concentrate in Biology. In her free time, you can find her taking a nap, reading, or baking a sweet treat.
