By Julia Saad
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, is a bipartisan organization that advocates for academic freedom and free speech.
FIRE surveyed college students nationwide about perceptions of their First Amendment Rights on campuses.
Chief Research Adviser Sean Stevens has been involved in analyzing the survey data since 2020.
He said the 2025 College Free Speech Ranking points to an increase in vaguely-worded policies on free speech on campus.
“I think the proliferation of ‘yellow light’ schools is maybe even a little more concerning to me, cause in the ‘red light’ schools, you know what you are getting,” he said. “Yellow is unclear to students.”
Among other indexes, universities can have three general classifications: Green, yellow, and red light. Red schools have identified policies that impose the freedom of speech.
Both Florida State University and the University of South Florida placed in the top 20.
FSU came in at No. 3, while USF – the only college in the state to drop in its rank – fell five positions from last year to No. 17. The declines were in “comfort expressing ideas” and “openness,” with 46% of students reporting self-censoring practices.
“Green doesn’t necessarily mean great,” Stevens said. “It just means there is nothing in the books that clearly threatens students’ speech and their rights.”
The survey targeted 257 colleges throughout the state and was answered by over 58,000 students. Rankings are determined by policies already in place and student answers.
To reach students for the survey, FIRE partnered with College Pulse. The platform was responsible for confirming whether the people participating were undergraduate students. It was open from Jan. 25 to June 17. The survey was not mandatory and students were given incentives, such as discounts to local businesses, for completing it, Stevens said.
Sophia Brown is the program coordinator for PEN America Florida. She said Floridians have seen a decline on their First Amendment Rights since 2021.
“It was House Bill (HB) 1, which was a significant anti-protest law,” Brown said. “PEN identifies that as ‘the beginning of the end’.”
House Bill 1 was passed in 2021. It intended to “reclassify penalty for assault,” and allow law enforcement to “respond to a riot or unlawful assembly in a specified manner based on specified circumstances.”.
Before joining PEN, Brown was a New College of Florida student. Throughout the many changes she saw there, including syllabus reforms, faculty turnover, and book bans she said it is hard to ask people about students’ rights on campus.
“All this different legislation, some directly related to higher education, some to protest, kind of cultivated this environment in Florida where free speech is really at risk,” she said. “As a recent college graduate, Florida can be really isolating for these conversations.”
In the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings, 55% of students reported the “Israeli-Palestinian” conflict is difficult to discuss on campus – with changing policies, lack of transparency, and “consistency of punishment” from administrators.
In the state, students have been suspended, expelled, and or arrested for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. The University of Florida recently denied the appeal of six students arrested at a campus demonstration.
Multiple USF students were also arrested during demonstrations in late April.
Stevens said the survey shows the trend is reflected nationwide.
Due to the spread of encampments and protests nationwide, Stevens said FIRE sent out a bonus survey on April 17, completed in 30 colleges.
Of the 4,000 students that answered the second survey, around 20% reported they had “little knowledge” of the free speech policies on campus, Stevens said. However, other students reported they didn’t know whether or not they could occupy buildings or hold signs.
“I would put this (issue) at the feet of administrators,” Stevens said. “It is their job to educate the students, make policies clear and enforce them consistently, so people know what to do.”
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