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Research & Learn

Explore FIRE's library of resources and research on free speech and other civil liberties.

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2025 College Free Speech Rankings

The largest report of its kind, the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings draw from more than 58,000 student survey responses at 257 colleges and universities and are designed to help parents and prospective students choose the right school.

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National Speech Index

The National Speech Index is an ongoing weekly survey conducted by the Polarization Research Lab, which will allow researchers to track shifting free speech sentiment in America over time.

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Campus Deplatforming Database

This research documents the ways and reasons that deplatforming attempts, a form of intolerance motivated by more than just mere disagreement, occur on college and university campuses from 1998 to the present.

FIRE Guides to Student Rights on Campus

FIRE’s Guides to Student Rights on Campus emphasize the critical importance of rule of law and fair procedure over partisan and repressive rules.

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Supreme Court Cases

Explore First Amendment court cases, opinions, overview essays and more to learn about the culture and law of free speech in the United States.

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Cancel culture, legal education, and the Supreme Court with Ilya Shapiro

Podcasts

Cancel culture, legal education, and the Supreme Court with Ilya Shapiro

Over the years, elite institutions shifted from fostering open debate to enforcing ideological conformity. But as guest Ilya Shapiro puts it, "the pendulum is swinging back." He shares his firsthand experience with cancel culture and how the...

Ilya Shapiro

Interviews

So to Speak Podcast Transcript: Cancel culture, legal education, and the Supreme Court with Ilya Shapiro

Over the years, elite institutions shifted from fostering open debate to enforcing ideological conformity. But as guest Ilya Shapiro puts it, “the pendulum is swinging back.”

Alex and Connor on the summit of Middle Teton mid-way through Teton Trifecta

FIRE Quarterly

Winter 2025 FIRE Quarterly

After a lawsuit from FIRE and the National Press Photographers Association, Congress passes positive changes to filming permit rules in national parks.

Scales of justice over Constitutional text

Reports

National Speech Index - January 2025

The January 2025 National Speech Index sampled 1,000 Americans and was conducted from Jan. 3-9 as a part of the Polarization Research Lab’s weekly America’s Political Pulse survey.

The Chicago Canon

Podcasts

The Chicago Canon

The University of Chicago is known for its commitment to free speech and academic freedom. Why are these values important to the university? Where do they originate? And how do they help administrators navigate conflicts and controversies? Tony Banout...

So to Speak Chicago Canon

Interviews

So to Speak Podcast Transcript: UChicago's Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression

The University of Chicago is known for its commitment to free speech and academic freedom. Why are these values important to the university?

Statue of justice with tape over the mouth and written on the tape is the word "SLAPP" meaning "Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation"

Issue Pages

Why ‘SLAPP’ lawsuits chill free speech and threaten the First Amendment

You can’t use the legal system to punish people for speech you don’t like. Here's why.

During the winter and spring of 1912, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and their allies in labor and the community engaged in a pitched battle against a city ordinance that banned public speaking in the area around 5th and E Streets in downtown San Diego.

Issue Pages

‘All who think outside the conventional ruts’: A history of the Free Speech League

In 1902, an anarchist named Edwin Walker reported on the formation of a group which would oppose “every form of governmental censorship."

Rethinking free speech with Peter Ives

Podcasts

Rethinking free speech with Peter Ives

Is the free speech conversation too simplistic? Peter Ives thinks so. He is the author of "," a new book that seeks to provide a more nuanced analysis of the free speech debate within various domains, from government to campus to social...

Peter Ives

Interviews

So to Speak Podcast Transcript: Rethinking free speech with Peter Ives

Is the free speech conversation too simplistic? Peter Ives thinks so. He is the author of “Rethinking Free Speech,” a new book that seeks to provide a more nuanced analysis of the free speech debate within various domains, from government to campus to social media.

silhouettes speaking

Issue Pages

Defamation and the First Amendment

Defamation refers to false statements of fact that harm another’s reputation, including both libel and slander, and is a category of unprotected speech.

Will Creeley, Robert Shibley, Ari Cohn

Interviews

So to Speak Podcast Transcript: We answer your free speech questions

FIRE staffers take your questions on the TikTok ban, mandatory DEI statements, the Kids Online Safety Act, Trump vs. the media, and more.

We answer your free speech questions

Podcasts

We answer your free speech questions

FIRE staffers take your questions on the TikTok ban, mandatory DEI statements, the Kids Online Safety Act, Trump vs. the media, and more. Joining us: Ari Cohn, lead counsel for tech policy Robert Shibley, special counsel for campus...

What is academic freedom? With Keith Whittington

Podcasts

What is academic freedom? With Keith Whittington

"Who controls what is taught in American universities -- professors or politicians?" Yale Law professor Keith Whittington answers this timely question and more in his new book, "You Can't Teach That! The Battle over University Classrooms."...

Keith Whittington

Interviews

So to Speak Podcast Transcript: What is academic freedom? With Keith Whittington

“Who controls what is taught in American universities — professors or politicians?” Yale Law professor Keith Whittington answers this timely question and more in his new book, “You Can’t Teach That! The Battle over University Classrooms.”

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