Three Minnesota colleges struggle in free speech report

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(The Center Square) – The three Minnesota colleges and universities included in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s “2027 College Free Speech Rankings” report received poor marks.

Carleton College was the top-ranked Minnesota institution, despite coming in at 116 among 261 colleges nationwide. Its ranking was unchanged from last year, though its overall score improved.

Carleton received a “yellow light” rating in FIRE’s Spotlight database, meaning it has at least one written policy that could be used to restrict speech. The college also ranked in the top 25 nationally for “Openness,” indicating fewer contentious topics feel off-limits to students.

“Carleton and Macalester both improved their overall score,” FIRE Chief Researcher Sean Stevens told The Center Square.

FIRE is a nonprofit organization that advocates for free speech and freedom of expression on college campuses and beyond.

The report included just three of Minnesota’s nearly 110 institutions of higher education: Carleton College, the University of Minnesota, and Macalester College.

The University of Minnesota ranked 204, down from 146 in the previous report. It received an F for its speech climate, with a score of 56 out of 100. It ranked in the bottom 25 for “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” indicating students feel uncomfortable sharing their views on controversial topics. It also ranked in the bottom 50 for “Openness” and “Administrative Support.”

“Its ranking includes a penalty stemming from an attempted disruption of an event featuring an anti-abortion speaker,” the report said. "It should revise student codes to earn a 'green light' spotlight rating. Administrators should clearly and forcefully defend free speech whenever censorship occurs or is demanded."

Macalester College ranked 207, an improvement from 228 last year. Despite the improvement, it still received an F for its speech climate for the sixth consecutive year.

Macalester ranked second nationally for “Openness,” but landed in the bottom 50 for “Political Tolerance.” FIRE gave the college a “red light” rating, which means it has at least one policy which FIRE considers “unconstitutional” that “clearly and substantially” restricts freedom of speech.

Stevens said the rankings are intended to give students, parents and others a clearer picture of the free speech climate at colleges across the country.

“Current college students, professors, and administrators can use the rankings to better understand their own campus climate and see how it compares to that of others across the country,” he added.

Minnesota’s three schools had an average speech-climate grade of F, below the national average of D-.

Across the nation, 121 of the 261 schools surveyed got an F for their speech climate.

That grade is made up of 12 parts, including how students feel about free speech on campus, school speech policies, and speech controversies on campus.

Only 24 schools received a speech climate grade of C or higher. While the national average improved from an F in last year’s report, Stevens said more improvements are needed, particularly in the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk a year ago, which FIRE said “generated a wave of censorship at America’s colleges.”

“The majority of campuses in the country still have a lot to do to create a truly open and dynamic intellectual environment,” Stevens said. “Almost half of the schools ranked receive what would be the equivalent of a failing grade on a traditional grading scale—less than 60. A perfect score may be difficult to obtain, but the floor needs to increase.”

The survey ranked the 261 schools based on nearly 63,000 student responses to a wide array of free speech-related questions. This is the seventh annual release of the report.