At a time when too many abandon principle in favor of partisanship, FIRE continues to be a sincerely nonpartisan organization. With threats to expression on all sides, FIRE remains firmly planted on the side of free speech. And thanks to the generous support of our donors, we’re able to translate that principle into action.
FIRE reviews hundreds of alleged civil liberties violations every year and seeks justice when institutions fail to uphold their commitments to our basic rights.
There are a lot of words you could use to describe FIRE. In the last year, many of those characteristics came to the forefront as we confronted unprecedented demand, unique challenges, and unanticipated obstacles in our college campus work.
Nick Wallace was set to graduate from Stanford Law in a week — but his diploma was held because he sent a joke email critical of the Federalist Society.
When student journalist Jared Nally began reporting on administrators at Haskell Indian Nations University, the president forbade Nally from engaging in standard newsgathering and other constitutionally protected activities.
In 2022 alone, FIRE’s Campus Rights Advocacy team won 70 campus rights victories, impacting the rights of thousands of college students and faculty.
Since 1999, FIRE has won 529 defense victories at 315 colleges and universities.
In 2022, FIRE vetted nearly 1,400 case submissions involving individuals and groups who said their rights were threatened.
In 2022, FIRE’s College Policy Reform team won 46 victories at 23 schools affecting 400,000 students.
Together with FIRE, these faculty fought for their free expression rights, their careers, and their futures.
After public outrage, Coastal Carolina University reinstates theater professor who criticized student protestors.
When students called on University of Michigan to investigate music professor Bright Sheng for showing a version of “Othello” that included actor Laurence Olivier in blackface, FLDF connected him with an attorney.
When Ferris State history professor Barry Mehler was suspended from teaching over tongue-in-cheek remarks, he got legal help through FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund.
University administrators turned me into a pariah on campus because I included a land acknowledgment that wasn’t sufficiently progressive for them.
When Professor Stuart Reges challenged the University of Washington’s position on land acknowledgements, administrators punished him, undermining his academic freedom. He reached out to FIRE, and we took the university to court. “I am pleased that FIRE joined with me to fight back against University of Washington’s illegal viewpoint discrimination,” said Reges.
FIRE’s 2022 College Free Speech Rankings are based on the voices of more than 44,000 currently enrolled students at 208 colleges and are designed to help parents and prospective students choose the right school.
Nearly two-thirds of FIRE’s college cases in 2020 involved students, and 28% involved faculty.
FIRE’s Legal Network currently boasts more than 300 members.
Nearly one quarter of FIRE’s cases in 2020 involved social media or online speech.
FIRE wrote or signed onto 15 amicus briefs in key legal cases in 2021.
If we can find ways of encouraging the administration to see stakeholders for free speech as important members of the community, then I think we can make some serious changes.
University of Connecticut Student Body President Michael Hernández (center) and student senators (left to right) Isadore Johnson and John “Jay” Mosely attempted to introduce student government legislation that would protect students’ expressive rights.
Help us build a new free speech movement and promote a strong culture of free speech by supporting FIRE with a donation today. Please join us in this important work!
Learn more about how FIRE advocates for your rights.
Subscribe to FIRE updates to get the latest free speech news in your inbox as it happens!
