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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.