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.
I have been harassed, trespassed, handcuffed and arrested countless times for peacefully exercising my First Amendment rights. My intention is to ensure that all Americans from the wealthiest millionaire to the poorest homeless person can exercise these rights without fear of consequence from our government.
Jeff Gray, a U.S. Army veteran and retired truck driver, has been repeatedly stopped, detained, searched, and arrested by the police. His alleged crime? Holding signs — in front of city halls across the United States.
Every resident should have the freedom to express their thoughts about what happens in their community. Mayor Owens may not want to hear our feedback, but we have the right to speak up. Change doesn’t happen when people sit quietly.
Monique Owens, mayor of Eastpointe, Michigan, repeatedly interrupted and silenced Mary Hall-Rayford, a community activist, former chaplain, and school board member who attempted to speak at a city council meeting.
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.
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.
The victory rate of cases involving student journalists since the launch of FIRE's Student Press Freedom Initiative in 2022.
FIRE's Campus Rights Advocacy team has sent more than 200 letters defending the rights of students and faculty in 2022.
Nearly one-third of all case submission to FIRE in 2022 came from faculty.
FIRE's Faculty Legal Defense Fund provided attorneys in 27 cases in 2022 to defend faculty expressive rights.
"The county’s actions are an outrageous infringement of Pennsylvanians’ First Amendment rights," said plaintiff Kevin Gaughen, a board member for Pennsylvania’s new Keystone Party. "We are filing this lawsuit to protect the First Amendment rights of everyone in Dauphin County."
The Dauphin County Parks and Recreation Department prohibited a candidate and a board member of his political party from collecting signatures in a public park. The department’s actions are a clear violation of the duo’s First Amendment right to political expression.
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