Southern schools dominate list of best colleges for free speech

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

Just as college students head off to campus, a list of schools that hold the First Amendment above political correctness is out — with a slew of Southern schools leading the way.

The list, released Wednesday by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), cites James Madison University, the College of William & Mary, the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania for protecting free speech on campus and maintaining policies honoring freedom of expression.

"It's easy for students to get caught up in the frenzy of trying to get into the best-ranked schools, but if the college you attend doesn't respect free speech, your education will suffer regardless of how high the college is ranked," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said.

FIRE has spotlighted schools where free speech is taboo, including colleges that restrict expression of controversial ideas to small sections of campus and others that bar students from protesting affirmative action and government policies.

To determine this year’s list of pro-speech schools, Lukianoff said FIRE considered whether an institution’s policies restrict First Amendment-protected speech and whether the school had censored speech in recent years. Each of the seven schools surveyed out of roughly 400 colleges and universities received a “green light” rating, meaning its policies did not imperil free speech on campus.

Only 16 schools in all received that rating and roughly 65 percent of all schools received so-called red light ratings for speech codes that are “laughably unconstitutional,” Lukianoff said.

“Believe it or not, 16 schools getting a green light is a major improvement,” he said.

Three of the schools on the list — James Madison, the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University — were included for the first time following revisions to its policies pertaining to student expression. The remaining four schools were selected for the second consecutive year.

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Free speech lives! (depending on where you go to school...)