College Tumbles in Free Speech Ranking, Worst in the Ivy League

Late last week, the 2020 College Free Speech Rankings were released. Dartmouth debuted at an abysmal 52 out of 55 in the inaugural year of the survey, marking a sharp departure from previous assessments of the state of free speech at the College. This announcement was celebrated by the Men’s Lacrosse team, who have now been unseated as having the lowest national ranking on campus.

The College Free Speech Rankings are a project conducted jointly by College Pulse, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and RealClearEducation. The rankings were compiled from a survey of nearly 20,000 students at 55 colleges around the United States, and is advertised as “the largest survey of college students about free speech on their campuses ever conducted.” Universities are given an overall score that is the sum of five different categories relating to free speech: openness, tolerance, self-expression, administrative support, and the FIRE speech code rating. 

Dartmouth received an overall rating of 48 out of 100, a solidly failing grade, and dropped to a Yellow speech rating with FIRE. Occupying the 52^nd slot on the list, the College ranks below every other Ivy, with Harvard—the nearest competitor—coming in at 46.

In the 2020 Rankings, Dartmouth received an overall rating of 48 out of 100, a solidly failing grade, and dropped to a Yellow speech rating with FIRE. Occupying the 52^nd slot on the list, the College ranks below every other Ivy, with Harvard—the nearest competitor—coming in at 46. Perhaps ironically, Brown held the highest slot among the Ivies, taking 9^th. 

Free speech scorecards are nothing new, with the topic of campus censorship being a recurring theme in media outlets. However, the College has historically performed well in these ratings. In 2011, FIRE even named Dartmouth among the seven best colleges for free speech, placing second on the list after the administration reversed course and abolished a speech code it had set in place. 

Of the 302 undergraduates surveyed only 31 percent said that it is never acceptable to shout down a speaker on campus and only 50 percent felt confident that the administration would defend a speaker’s rights to free speech.

The rapid fall of the College’s perceived tolerance for speech has attracted outside attention. Writing for RealClearEducation, Julia Seymour pointed to a number of incidents that could be responsible for the sudden decline of free speech on campus, including the petition calling for the administration to take action against The Review and disruptions to a Dinesh D’Souza lecture hosted by the College Republicans in 2019. Given this, it is no surprise that of the 302 undergraduates surveyed only 31 percent said that it is never acceptable to shout down a speaker on campus and only 50 percent felt confident that the administration would defend a speaker’s rights to free speech.

Seymour also emphasized the fact that, departing from the typical free speech narrative, students don’t fear academic repercussions as much as they fear social repercussions. The survey found that students felt more comfortable disagreeing with professors on controversial issues compared to posting an unpopular opinion on a social media account linked to their name.

While free speech restrictions can impact all students..conservatives at Dartmouth [are] disproportionately affected. When looking solely at responses from [liberals], Dartmouth shot up the rankings to 35. When considering conservative responses, Dartmouth remained stuck at 52. 

While free speech restrictions can impact all students, perceptions of the atmosphere on campus broke down along ideological lines, with conservatives at Dartmouth feeling disproportionately affected. When looking solely at responses from students who identified as liberal, Dartmouth shot up the rankings to 35. When considering conservative responses, Dartmouth remained stuck at 52. 

Whether it can be attributed to “groupthink,” a small campus, poor decisions by the administration, or a more heated political climate, the College has fallen a long way in free speech practices this past decade. Crawling out of this hole will require looking not just at the administration but at the culture created by the students themselves. It is vital that we do so not just for the sake of a free speech ranking, but in order to maintain the integrity of our liberal arts institution.