Harvard University is officially the 2023 worst school for free speech.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) released its annual college free speech rankings on Wednesday, which called the state of free speech at Ivy League schools “atrocious.”
“I’m not completely surprised,” Sean Stevens, director of polling and analysis at FIRE, told The Post. “We’ve been doing these rankings for years now, and Harvard is consistently at the bottom.”
Despite being the most famous academic institution in the country, Harvard received a free speech ranking of 0.00 points on a 100-point scale – a full 11 points behind the next worst school.
FIRE said the dismal score was “generous,” given that Harvard’s actual score was -10.69, according to their calculations.
FIRE polling director Sean Stevens said he wasn’t particularly surprised that Harvard ranked last in his organization’s free speech rankings this year.thefire.org
Harvard’s score was dragged down by the fact that nine professors and researchers at Harvard faced calls to be punished or fired based on what they said or wrote — and seven of those nine were actually professionally disciplined.
“I think it’s pretty impossible for a school to drop below zero, but they have so many scholar restrictions,” Stevens said.
Scores are calculated based on factors including how strong the school’s policies are in favor of free speech and the number of professors, students and campus speakers who have been targeted by authorities for their speech.
Bonuses apply if school administrators defend the rights of those whose free speech is threatened.
Harvard professors Ned Hall, Janet Halley, and Jeffrey Flier are members of the new Council on Academic Freedom. Anthony Tulliani for the NY Post
The rankings also take into account student sentiment about free speech based on FIRE polling conducted in collaboration with research firm College Pulse.
Harvard’s lowest ranking comes even as more than 100 of its professors joined earlier this year to form the Council on Academic Freedom to defend open inquiry on campus.
“We’re in a time of crisis right now,” Janet Halley, a Harvard Law School professor and Council member, told The Post in April. “Many, many people are being threatened with — and actually going through — disciplinary processes for exercising their free speech and academic freedom.”
Second worst on the list was the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, followed by the University of South Carolina in Columbia, Georgetown University in DC, and Fordham University in the Bronx and Manhattan.
Fordham University in New York City is among the five worst schools for free speech in the FIRE rankings.Rick Davis / SplashNews.com
Although Columbia University won the worst school prize for free speech last year, it ranked 214th out of 248 this time.
The number one school for free speech is Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. The school scored 78.01 out of a possible 100 points.
“I’m not necessarily surprised that tech schools have a better speech climate, mainly because they don’t talk as much about controversial topics,” Stevens said. “They’re there to make things work as engineers.”
Auburn University, University of New Hampshire, Oregon State University and Florida State University rounded out the top five.
Michigan Technological University has won the prize for the best school for free speech in 2023.Alamy Stock Photo
FIRE’s survey of 55,000 current students from 254 universities also yielded surprising results.
56% of students worry about being suspended for something they say, and 27% say it’s acceptable to use violence to stop campus speech in some circumstances.
As FIRE continues to be inundated with allegations of free speech violations, Stevens said the erosion of campus discourse should concern everyone.
“I’d say the free speech situation on campus is at best, and maybe a little worse than last year.”
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