Dartmouth College in New Hampshire has reclaimed its "green light" rating for free-speech rights, the highest rating offered by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). According to FIRE, Dartmouth had first earned a "green light" in 2005 but then lost it because they adopted a policy that threatened student free speech.
Laura Beltz is director of policy reform for FIRE. "Back in 2013, [Dartmouth] adopted a 'bias incident reporting' protocol that was unclear about what kind of responses the college would have to protect its speech," she explains. "So, we had to take that high 'green light' rating away from Dartmouth."
Dartmouth, established in 1769, is the only Ivy League school in the nation that has earned a "green light" from FIRE. Beltz says "it's a shame" there aren't more.
"We think of these as elite institutions that are … molding the future of leaders of the country," she offers. "[So] they, of all places, should be a free marketplace of ideas. Getting that marketplace of ideas starts with a good foundation for speech – and that means policies that allow students to express themselves."
According to Belz, individuals who say something "controversial" at most elite colleges are "liable to get shouted down, canceled, reported, and disciplined." But Dartmouth's policies, she argues, indicate the school aims to foster a better environment for free speech.
FIRE has commended Dartmouth President Sian Beilock for her commitment to fostering "brave spaces" and "improving the state of discourse" on campus.
Blame the administrations
Sean Stevens is chief research advisor for FIRE. He explains that university administrations typically play a large factor in the free-speech rankings of schools – especially those at the bottom.
"All of them are also quite bad on the administrative component overall and weren't necessarily great to begin with," Stevens tells AFN. "But then they went down further, it seems like, in response to how the encampment protests were reacted to by their administrations."
For example, Harvard, Yale and Columbia Universities are at the bottom of this year's College Free Speech Rankings. By contrast, the University of Virginia, Michigan Technological University, and Florida State University are at the top of the list – and all have higher levels of administrative support.
"Importantly, [all three of those] have all defended speech rights of a speaker during a controversy over the past four or five years," Stevens points out.
FIRE's research involved 58,000 students at 250 colleges and universities.
9/23/2024 - Comments from Sean Stevens added.
