Watchdog shames Georgetown, others in annual list of worst colleges for free speech
Jeremiah Poff
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The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released their annual list of worst colleges for freedom of speech Thursday, naming notable institutions such as the Penn Law and the University of Oregon as the worst offenders.
The free speech and civil rights watchdog also ignominiously awarded Georgetown University its fifth “Lifetime Censorship Award” for initiating a four-month investigation into incoming law professor Ilya Shapiro for a tweet that criticized President Joe Biden for vowing to pick a black woman to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Georgetown joined previous award winners Yale, DePaul, Syracuse, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
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Georgetown had been featured on the 2022 edition of the list, days after the Shapiro tweet made headline news. The 2023 list also brought back 2022 veterans Emerson College and Collin College.
“Since 2020, we’ve seen an upswing in campus censorship unlike anything I’ve encountered in my 22-year career,” FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff said of the new list. “You’d think they’d eventually run out of students and professors to censor, but no such luck in 2022. Fingers crossed for 2023.”
The latest edition brought eight new offenders. University of Pennsylvania Law School made the list after the dean of the school requested a sanction against tenured professor and outspoken conservative Amy Wax, while Hamline University was included for firing a professor who showed a medieval painting of the Prophet Mohammad in class.
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The University of Oregon was listed for requiring faculty to submit diversity, equity, and inclusion statements, a growing trend across higher education. The group also listed Texas A&M University for asserting significant control over the campus student newspaper and staging an administrative takeover of a student-run freshman camp.
“FIRE gave each school on the list multiple opportunities to do the right thing,” FIRE attorney Alex Morey said in a statement. “Instead, they’ve shown just how committed they are to violating student and faculty rights. This list should be a warning to anyone considering joining one of these college or university communities. Think again.”