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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University is once again among the worst colleges in the country for free speech, according to a report released Tuesday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
The group’s 2026 College Free Speech Rankings placed IU in the bottom three out of 257 schools surveyed.
FIRE, a nonprofit civil liberties organization that advocates for academic freedom and free speech, annually surveys college undergraduates nationwide about perceptions of their First Amendment Rights on campuses.
The new report placed IU at No. 255 with an overall score of 43.87—out of 100—and a failing grade of F. Only Barnard College and Columbia University ranked as poorly.
In contrast, Purdue University placed second overall, with a score of 76.24 and a speech climate grade of C. DePauw University also ranked in the top 20 nationally, finishing 18th with a score of 71.13 and a grade of C-.
The University of Notre Dame fell in the bottom half of the rankings at No. 238, with a score of 50.42 and a failing grade.
A ‘chilling effect’ on IU’s campus
FIRE officials said in a news release that the lowest-rated schools “are home to restrictive speech policies and some of last year’s most shocking anti-free speech moments.”
The report singled out IU for what FIRE called a “visible force and invisible voices” chilling effect.
FIRE pointed to events on IU’s campus last spring as a major driver of its poor ranking.
Administrators adopted a new policy banning the construction of unauthorized structures in a late-night meeting — just hours before students began setting up a pro-Palestinian encampment. The following day, the university called in state police, who placed snipers on the roof of the student union.
“The incident sparked widespread concern among students, contributing to IU’s poor performance in this year’s rankings,” the FIRE report noted.
Roughly a third of IU students said they self-censor in conversations with peers, professors and in classroom discussions, and a majority additionally reported feeling “uncomfortable expressing their views on a controversial political topic” either in class or in a public campus space like the quad, dining hall or lounge, according to the report.
Student survey responses described fear of administrative retaliation.
One IU student said, “Our administration at Indiana University has publicly and repeatedly silenced students that speak out on controversial topics. I am afraid that I would get retaliation from the administration in terms of a lawsuit, a ban from campus, and expulsion from the university.”
IU also performed poorly across FIRE’s subcategories: 251st on administrative support, 255th on openness, 246th on self-censorship, and 227th on comfort expressing ideas.
Only 23% of IU students said it is “very” or “extremely” clear that the administration protects free speech, while nearly half said administrators were “not at all” or “not very” likely to defend a speaker’s rights during a controversy.
Other Indiana schools
The rankings are based on surveys of more than 68,000 students across the country. FIRE’s new report showed that 166 of the 257 schools surveyed got an F for their speech climate, while only 11 schools received a speech climate grade of C or higher.
It’s not the first time IU has landed near the bottom of the annual free speech census. Last year, the Bloomington school ranked 243rd out of 251, also near the bottom. Before that, in 2024, IU ranked 225th.
Nationally, Purdue University fared far better in the latest report than its in-state counterpart.
FIRE ranked the West Lafayette flagship campus second in the country this year, behind only Claremont McKenna College. Other top-ranked schools included the University of Chicago and Michigan Technological University.
Other Indiana institutions were not included in the 2026 report.
Last year, DePauw University placed 36th and the University of Notre Dame 167th. Purdue was also in the top 30.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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It’s what Mike Braun (mini-me-MAGA) wants. He won’t stop until IU is dead last.
IU has been a shitshow since the 1950’s. Not surprised by this at all….
Not true. I went to IU in the 2000s and it was a great school. None of the nonsense that is going on now. No snipers on rooftops. No protests. Just kids going to school and having a good time.
2012 grad here. Those 4 years were the best of my life and what has happened in the last year or so is shameful and disturbing.
Anytime a far-left liberal organization places someone or something at the bottom of its rankings, that should be taken as a badge of honor. Their “values” and policies have shown themselves time and again to be less about protecting freedom and more about suppressing it—whether through encouraging censorship, excusing actual violence, or turning a blind eye to the discrimination Jewish students are facing across campuses nationwide.
So if Indiana University finds itself ranked near the bottom by a group with those kinds of ideological leanings, it’s not necessarily an indictment of IU—it’s a reflection of the warped priorities of those doing the ranking. When measured against that yardstick, being scored poorly is more of a compliment than a criticism.
With respect, FIRE is not a “far-left liberal” group—it’s a nationally recognized nonpartisan organization that has defended free speech across the political spectrum for decades. They’ve gone to bat for conservative, libertarian, and progressive voices alike, and their consistent mission is to safeguard the First Amendment on campuses.
Indiana University’s poor ranking isn’t about FIRE pushing an ideological agenda—it stems from the university’s own choices in handling recent controversies around antisemitism and pro-Palestinian expression. Those actions raised red flags about whether IU consistently protects the right to free speech when it’s most difficult.
Whether one agrees with every point FIRE makes or not, dismissing the ranking as “a badge of honor” misses the opportunity for IU to examine how it can better live up to its role as a place where even uncomfortable or unpopular speech is allowed. That’s the real measure of a university committed to free inquiry.
I have to chime in as well. FIRE is hardly a far-left liberal organization. In fact, it has often been referred to as being on the right. In truth, it is neither. It simply defends the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Sometimes that stand is uncomfortable, but they have been pretty consistent.
Don hates free speech apparently. Don, you’d enjoy living in Russia, China, or North Korea more than the U.S. I think. You wouldn’t have to worry about things like those pesky liberals having their own opinions on things.
Have to agree with the others. FIRE is filling in the gaps where the ACLU jumped the shark and became a hyper-partisan clown car years ago. We’ll see if FIRE can continue to fend off the ideological rot.
That said, FIRE has come down hard on Pam Bondi’s recent idiotic conflation of “free speech” and “hate speech”, and for good reason. She sounds like someone from the Biden administration, and she is just as wrong as they were.
That said, hatred of free speech in 2025 doesn’t need to relegate a person to “Russia, China, or North Korea”. You could just as easily add “Canada, United Kingdom, or Germany” to that list. All three countries have proven, with pointed examples in the last year, that their governments do not in the least defend or value free speech. Bottle-blonde Bondi seems to hint that she’d like to go that same path.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
And before people display their breathtaking ignorance, the Constitution applies to state laws and actions too. We are citizens of both the state and the US and as citizens of the US our rights under the Constitution cannot be violated. Not even if you happen to like the violation.
+1
Not sure what the deal is. If You’re a pro Palestinian go ahead and do it. Go ahead and protest. If you truly believe it, and you believe the laws and immoral then protest and then take it to court. Go to jail. If you win or lose, that’s what it’s all about. This is America. Of all the options out there. It’s a pretty good one if you wanna go ahead ahead and protest. Grow up. Offer it up. I was there in the late 60s and 70s. Just do it. All the greats from Gandhi to Martin Luther King to Jesus Christ, understand that. Stop whining. Who cares what some monitoring group thinks or says or writes. My guess is the policy would be struck down, but even if it’s not, so what. either you believe or you don’t.
Every time a protest even gets close to the point of illegality, conservatives freak out and say liberals are burning down cities. So some students decide to protest legally the same way that students have for decades, and the school changes the rules in the middle of the night and makes arrests the next day. You people are so intellectually inconsistent it’s mind-numbing
Michael, that b/c you liberals call a city ablaze, a peaceful protest.
Interesting that not one comment has yet to address that one-third of undergraduate survey respondents do not feel free to express themselves in the classroom without the threat of retribution from faculty and administration.
From my son’s personal experience, he knows exactly which faculty member(s) are so liberal that if a more conservative viewpoint were expressed by a student, then that student would receive a lesser grade on an assignment/paper/quiz/test. Rule of thumb is to just go along in order to get along.
It’s no secret that Bloomington is one of the most liberal towns in all of Indiana. By extension, it should come as no surprise that IU ranks as one of the worst in terms of free speech.
“COEXIST” (as long as you vote the way I vote)
Bloomington is by far the most liberal town in Indiana. I had a great time at IU but I do remember a professor that was so far gone on the left that any actual point I brought to her that she disagreed with was immediately incorrect in her opinion. She would literally say we were wrong when we had research papers with sources. Only time that happened at IU but I bet it has gotten worse now.
It sounds like your son is either ashamed of his views or knows that expressing them won’t be persuasive. If conservatives want to have more space for their opinions on campuses, they should start by having more compelling, less abhorrent opinions.
I bet you drive a Subaru with a COEXIST sticker on the back. Thanks for playing.
Michael N–thanks for embracing the mindset that explains why FIRE exists.
“Abhorrent opinions” are the exact ones that need First Amendment protections. Who cares if you have milquetoast views that had a reasonable amount of bipartisan support as recently as 2010? Oh wait–you get shot in the neck at a Utah campus if you fall into THAT category.
Just when you think “journalists” couldn’t get any dumber, they regurgitate this moronic “Report!”
IU is a bastion of liberal democrats and it is well documented that conservative points of view are suppressed and punished.
The fact that this idiocy is even brought up because people supporting Muslim terrorism can’t take over the campus shows how deplorable Democrats are.
Speaking of “pro Palestine protesters” Nate can you give us an update on the Israel hostages?
Why don’t you share some of the well-documented suppression that you’ve made up in your head?
You all…..smh. Your opinions are all based on “where you get your news.” All of the information flow is set up to provide confirmation bias into all our social media feeds. No one even knows what the “others” even believe in anymore. So sad that people resort to name calling and juvenile insults when communicating with the other side. We need to stop blaming the “bad others” and grow up and see what’s really behind the campaign in this country to obliterate basic human values. Parochial.