(The Center Square) – Four higher education institutions in Alabama, including major universities in Auburn and Tuscaloosa, are in the top 100 of the 257 schools analyzed in the largest annual review of free speech for colleges and universities.
Auburn, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa earned letter grades between D-plus and D-minus. The leader was Auburn at No. 28 nationwide with a score of 69 and D-plus. It was followed by UAH (46th, 64, D), UAB (54th, 63, D) and Alabama (89th, 60, D-minus).
FIRE, the acronym for Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, based the rankings on 68,000 students at 253 colleges and universities.
Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, Calif., scored an 80 for a B-minus to lead the rankings. Purdue (76, C) and the University of Chicago (76, C) were next. On the other end, Northeastern (47, F), the University of Washington (44, F) and Indiana (44, F) were the bottom three.
Auburn is down 17 spots from a year ago. The analysis says, “Auburn could bolster its score by formally adopting the Chicago Statement on free expression and an official commitment to institutional neutrality – steps that would complement its strong written policies and help rebuild student confidence.”
UAH climbed three spots from 2024, UAB fell 14, and the flagship of the state’s public system plummeted 20 spots. Alabama was hurt, the report says, “after administrators initially denied recognition to a Young Americans for Freedom chapter when the group refused to adopt school-required language in its constitution.”
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.”
