(The Center Square) – The speech climate at four schools in the University of North Carolina System ranked “above average” in the largest annual review of free speech for colleges and universities.
The quartet of UNC Charlotte (No. 9), East Carolina (No. 13), UNC Greensboro (No. 22) and Appalachian State (No. 24) all made the national top 25, with Duke leading the private contingent at No. 27. FIRE, the acronym for Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, based the rankings on 58,000 students at 257 colleges and universities.
The University of Virginia, Michigan Tech and Florida State were the best. The worst were Ivy Leaguers Harvard and Columbia, each with scores of zero and speech climate descriptions of “abysmal.”
Of the other campuses surveyed, UNC Chapel Hill was No. 62, Wake Forest No. 78 and Davidson No. 127.
Charlotte had no de-platforming, disruptions, sanctioned scholars or students, or honor roll statements in categories. The school was No. 65 for self-censorship, No. 66 for comfort expressing ideas, No. 98 for administration support, No. 110 for openness, No. 193 for intolerance for speakers, and No. 237 in disruptive conduct.
Charlotte’s admission rate is 80%, with an undergraduate enrollment of more than 26,000.
Carolina scored an “average” speech climate. The campus in April was rocked by an encampment on the famed Polk Place quad, the removal of the American flag there while a flag of Palestine temporarily went up in its place, and ultimately, fraternity brothers and the then-interim chancellor were hailed for their role in putting Old Glory back in place.
The disruption included buildings occupied. For the surveyed time, UNC had one deplatforming, two disruptions, three sanctioned scholars, two sanctioned students, and three honor roll statements. In category scoring, Carolina was No. 89 in tolerance for speakers; No. 118 in disruptive conduct; No. 126 in administration support; No. 154 in comfort expressing ideas; No. 161 in openness; and No. 201 in self-censorship.
The report said that since 2020, each of the top three schools along with N.C. State, Oregon State, Mississippi State, Auburn, George Mason, Kansas State, Mississippi, the University of Chicago and Claremont McKenna “have all consistently performed well in FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings.”
The report says, “analyses of the encampment protests are buttressed by an accompanying report detailing the results of a separate survey conducted on 30 campuses after the encampment protests began.”
A section of the report related to the Oct. 7 beginning of the conflict between Hamas and Israel said a record 156 de-platforming attempts happened on American college and university campuses. Fifty-four were tied to the war. In calendar year 2024 as the report went to press, 75 of 110 deplatforming attempts involved the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The report puts 47% of the schools surveyed as politically liberal. While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict became the No. 1 topic toughest to talk about on campuses, there remains difficulty for abortion, transgender issues, gun control, and race and racial inequality.
FIRE bills itself as “nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience – the most essential qualities of liberty.”
It works to produce the rankings with College Pulse, a “survey research and analytics company dedicated to understanding the attitudes, preferences, and behaviors of today’s college students.” It has custom “data-driven marketing and research solutions,” utilizing a panel of “850,000 college students and recent alumni from more than 1,500 two- and four-year colleges and universities in all 50 states.”