Boston College placed 189th out of 257 colleges in the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings released by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
The 2025 ranking is a slight improvement from last year’s report, in which BC ranked among the lowest—229th out of 248 colleges.
BC also received a “red light,” the lowest possible rating for campus free speech policies by FIRE, for the second year in a row.
FIRE’s Spotlight rating assesses the written policies governing student speech at higher-education institutions.
“A ‘red light’ rating indicates that the institution has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech,” the report reads.
The free speech rankings were granted based on a composite score of 14 components, seven of which assessed student perceptions of different aspects of their campus speech climate.
“The other seven assess behavior by administrators, faculty, and students regarding free expression on campus,” the report reads. “Higher scores indicate a better campus climate for free speech and expression.”
The seven components reflecting student perception included comfort expressing ideas, self-censorship, tolerance for liberal speakers, tolerance for conservative speakers, disruptive conduct, administrative support, and openness.
BC ranked among the lowest for comfort expressing ideas (180th), self-censorship (209th), tolerance for liberal speakers (229th), and openness (239th).
This year’s report also included an assessment of campus behavioral metrics, which gave schools bonus or penalty points for taking actions indicative of positive or poor campus climates for free speech, respectively.
According to the report, the rankings survey was reopened in response to encampment protests on college campuses following the Israel-Hamas war.
“A lot has happened since FIRE released the 2024 College Free Speech Rankings last September,” the report reads. “Most significantly, Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza sent shockwaves through American college and university campuses.”
The growing number of protests also led to an increase in deplatforming attempts, according to the report.
“Campus deplatforming attempts occurred at record levels, and protesters attempted to disrupt events with increasing frequency—and succeeded with increasing regularity,” the report reads. “Students, student groups, and faculty who expressed pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian sentiment were targeted for sanction by their peers, administrators, and elected officials.”
The report stated that the survey was fielded from Jan. 25 through June 17, which allowed the report to reflect the encampments that took place across many college campuses in the Spring.
“That means that this year’s College Free Speech Rankings provide a treasure trove of data on the evolving state of free expression at American colleges and universities,” the report reads.
As a part of their research, FIRE sampled a total of 104 undergraduate students from BC. Several of the anonymous respondents shared experiences of censorship and fear of judgment for their political views on campus.
“The overall [vibe] is just to put your head down and learn in most instances,” one student said in the report.
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