Individual Rights Advocacy

Defending Your Rights

FIRE is here to defend the individual rights of all Americans to think and live freely. 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. Before FIRE's expansion to defend free expression for all Americans, we spent two decades building a successful track record defending the rights of students and faculty members on our nation's college campuses.

FIRE’s proven approach to advocacy has vindicated the rights of thousands of Americans through targeted media campaigns, correspondence with officials, open records requests, litigation, and other creative advocacy tactics.

If you think your rights have been violated, contact FIRE today.

Contact Us

Eastern Virginia Medical School Student Edward Si
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Are You In Trouble For Something You Said?

Legal Advocacy

FIRE’s advocates are here to help when your free speech rights are violated.

FIRE in the Courts

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Newsdesk

Explore Our Work

FIRE has helped hundreds of college and university students and faculty when their rights were threatened. Learn more about our groundbreaking advocacy work in higher education and our expansion beyond campus.

Campus Rights Advocacy

Are you a college student or faculty member being punished or investigated for something you said? Are you a student whose group has been denied recognition or defunded? Is your student publication being threatened? Are you facing non-renewal or loss of tenure because of your views? FIRE’s Campus Rights Advocacy team may be able to help.

Learn More About Campus Rights Advocacy

Students in class
Haskell Indian Nations University Student Journalist Jared Nally
Joining our student newspaper gave me a voice, and unfortunately it’s going to take a lawsuit for the university to listen to it.

Student journalist SUES his university, and WINS!

Student Story

The president of Haskell Indian Nations University issued an unconstitutional directive to student journalist Jared Nally, editor-in-chief of the award-winning student newspaper, The Indian Leader, that formally forbade Jared from engaging in protected journalistic activities. The president also directed Jared to start showing university administrators the “highest respect” — or else!

Read Jared's Story

Three Steps to Your Defense

We review hundreds of potential rights violations each year and seek justice for those we help. How? By using our authority and reputation to directly demand that those in power respect the Constitution or uphold their own stated commitments to civil liberties.

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  • Concerned that your rights may be at risk? If you are in trouble for something you said, contact FIRE confidentially. 

    For faculty at public colleges and universities, call FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund Hotline: 254-500-FLDF (3533). 

    If you’re a college journalist facing censorship or a media law question, call the Student Press Freedom Initiative 24-hour hotline at 717-734-SPFI (7734).

    Contact Us

Student Defenders know their college’s policies, and they know what your rights are.

Know Your Rights. Defend Your Rights.

Student Defenders

If you are a student who is accused of violating your school’s code of conduct, you may feel lost, anxious, and scared about your future. Student Defenders can help. Student Defenders are fellow students trained as conduct advisors who can help ensure students accused of misconduct are treated fairly.

Learn More About Becoming a Student Defender

How Does Your College Compare?

FIRE's College Free Speech Rankings are based on the voices of more than 55,000 students at more than 200 colleges and universities, and are designed to help parents and prospective students choose the right school.

Find a School

Reedley College professor Bill Blanken
“I’m a professor of chemistry. How am I supposed to incorporate DEI into my classroom instruction? What’s the ‘anti-racist’ perspective on the atomic mass of boron?" — Reedley College Professor Bill Blanken

FIRE Has Your Back

Faculty Story

FIRE filed a lawsuit on behalf of six California community college professors to halt new, systemwide regulations forcing professors to espouse and teach politicized conceptions of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Read Their Story

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