Tennessee Universities and Free Speech: Memphis, UT Ranks High

As students return to colleges and universities across the country, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released its annual study of free speech rights at more than 250 colleges. Only two universities in Tennessee made it into the top 100.

The University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee both ranked in the top 100 for the second consecutive year, ranking 48th and 95th, respectively.

Memphis fell from last year’s ranking of 39th, but the University of Tennessee saw a slight improvement over last year’s ranking, coming in at 97th.

The highest-ranked school in the study is the University of Virginia. The lowest, for the second year in a row, is Harvard University.

5^t The annual survey surveyed more than 58,000 students at public and private universities and asked questions about their First Amendment rights to free speech, expression, and assembly.

Last year, Vanderbilt University ranked 89th in the top 100, but has dropped significantly over the past year and now sits at 140th.

More: Vanderbilt University Claims to Be Committed to Free Speech. But Does It?

The results were announced after an unusually turbulent year for schools across the country, in which issues related to Israel’s war with Hamas spilled over into protests and encampments.

Here are the trends revealed by the new data

The ranking is based on a composite score of 14 components: seven survey questions assess student perceptions of various aspects of the campus climate for free expression, and the remaining seven assess the behavior of administrators, faculty, and students regarding free expression on campus.

Each school is given a score based on these components: the higher the score, the higher the ranking. The University of Virginia received a total score of 73.41, ranking first, while the University of Harvard received a 0, ranking last.

The most important findings include:

∎ The topics students found most difficult to discuss on campus were Israel’s war with Hamas, with 55% of students finding it difficult to discuss, and 45% finding abortion difficult, followed by issues such as transgender rights, gun control, and racial inequality.

∎ Middle Eastern students have the least confidence in their administration when it comes to protecting their free speech rights, with one-third reporting that it is “not at all” or “not at all” clear that the administration is protecting free speech on campus, and 37% reporting that the administration is “not at all” or “not at all” likely to defend a speaker’s rights during a speech controversy. In comparison, 25% of white students reported the same.

∎ Men of all races said they enjoy expressing controversial views in class or on campus more than women do—for almost every question on this topic, nearly 10% more men than women said they were willing to express such an opinion.

∎ Students are becoming more comfortable with physical fights. The number of students who say it is acceptable to drown out a speaker to interrupt a speech on campus, block other students from speaking on campus, and use violence to interrupt a speech on campus in some form has increased steadily since 2022. The number of students who say it is “never” acceptable has decreased since last year, from 37% to 32%.

Israel’s war with Hamas is an “all-encompassing” topic

Sean Stevens, senior research fellow for polling and analysis at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, often known as FIRE, said campus tensions in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war are an “all-encompassing” issue.

“Fifty-five percent of students nationwide said it’s hard to talk about,” Stevens said. “That’s a record high for that question, for any topic. The previous record was racial inequality in 2021, at about 52 percent.”

Universities across the country have erupted in protest — both in defense of Israel and Palestine — following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Student camps have sprung up on multiple campuses, including Vanderbilt’s in Nashville, demanding that universities divest from initiatives that support Israel.

According to Stevens, although the response to many of the war-related student free speech issues was factored into the schools’ results, the study did not penalize most schools for their handling of the encampments because of the “confusing mix of protected and unprotected free speech.”

Instead, schools were slammed for their administrative compliance with First Amendment principles. Cases that demonstrated blatant suppression of speech, such as the University of Texas at Austin, where law enforcement was called in preemptively to prevent protests, and the University of Indiana, which received reports of snipers on university buildings after the administration called in police to shut down a student camp, earned schools rankings in the bottom 10.

Both schools score poorly in the “administrative support” category, ranking 228th and 240th, respectively.

The top-ranked schools also handled student encampments. And while not all were handled perfectly — the University of Virginia, the top-ranked school, for example, also called in law enforcement to remove protesters — the schools received higher marks for taking appropriate de-escalatory steps in response to student demands and “resisting the temptation to punish students and faculty for expressing their views.”

Four students and one reporter were arrested during the riot at Vanderbilt University.

Stevens said many schools have “suffered losses” due to students losing confidence in their administration.

“I think schools that have really taken a beating in terms of student perception of the administration can have a hard time rebuilding that trust. Although I think in at least a few places where these incidents have happened, that’s exactly why the new administration has come in,” he said. “I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily going to be able to wipe that slate clean, but the new administration may be better equipped to rebuild that trust than the person who lost it.”

USA TODAY Network – Tennessee’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded by a partnership between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.

Have a story to tell? Contact Angele Latham by email at [email protected], by phone at 931-623-9485 or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham

Tennessee Universities and Free Speech: Memphis, UT Ranks High

Here are the trends revealed by the new data

Israel’s war with Hamas is an “all-encompassing” topic

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