The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression removed Hillsdale College from its college free speech rankings because of the lack of a clear, written free speech commitment above other principles this year.
In past years, Hillsdale received a “Warning” label and was assessed and grouped with other “Warning” schools. FIRE labels institutions with a “Warning” if they are private institutions that clearly hold other values above freedom of speech. This year, FIRE excluded Hillsdale from the rankings.
“Hillsdale College was never ranked by FIRE for the College Free Speech Rankings because their speech policies receive a ‘Warning’ rating from our Policy Reform team,” FIRE’s Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said in an email. “In the past, we surveyed ‘Warning’ schools, posted their survey results, and calculated their score against only the other ‘Warning’ schools. These scores were presented in a table separate from the rankings. This year, we decided not to survey the ‘Warning’ schools, and replaced them with six non-‘Warning’ schools.”
A survey conducted by Hillsdale in 2024 that followed FIRE’s methodology found Hillsdale is among the best schools in the nation for free speech, according to a Hillsdale College press release.
“Ninety-seven percent of Hillsdale students feel very or somewhat comfortable discussing controversial topics in public campus spaces, far exceeding the national average of 50%,” the press release said.
FIRE is a nonprofit organization that has a commitment to protecting the “free speech and free thought” of all Americans, according to its website. The organization relies on data from students, collected by College Pulse, to conduct its research and rankings.
FIRE’s Director of Policy Reform Laura Beltz said in a 2023 press release Hillsdale is not ranked by FIRE because it does not have a free speech commitment that trumps other values.
“Hillsdale holds itself out as an institution that values civil and religious liberty,” Beltz wrote. “However, its written policies don’t actually include a clear commitment to student free speech rights. Instead, they emphasize maintaining an environment in line with Hillsdale’s particular civil, moral standards.”
The press release states that FIRE assesses private institution’s free speech policies in line with its other commitments.
“If a private school doesn’t have a clear, written commitment to free speech, and instead consistently states in policy that student speech must align with other particular values, we award that school a Warning rating,” Beltz said in the press release.
Bruno Cortes, assistant director of Hillsdale College’s media relations, said FIRE’s standard of a written free speech statement is a reflection of a broken campus culture.
“My view is that their recommendations are best suited to schools where the campus culture is already so broken that real discussion can’t happen,” Cortes said. “At places like the University of Chicago or Yale, you might need a policy on paper because the campus is that troubled. That’s essentially what it is — it’s a policy rating. It’s not really a campus climate rating. If it were, then we would be ranked, because ours is much better than most.”
Beltz wrote her press release in response to College President Larry Arnn’s 2023 Wall Street Journal Opinion, titled “There’s More to Education Than Free Speech.”
“Hillsdale’s purposes, as described in its founding document, are learning, character, faith and freedom,” Arnn wrote. “We often argue about the meaning of these things. But we consider them transcendent — a sin in FIRE’s book, in which only freedom of speech is transcendent.”
Hillsdale College’s commitment to free speech is not placed above other values, according to Emily Stack Davis, Hillsdale College’s associate vice president of media outreach and public relations.
“You can’t live on policy alone,” Davis said. “It’s the culture of the college that really matters, not just the policies. It’s everything else around it that supports free speech. Hillsdale is a great example of how you achieve those kinds of results. So, for FIRE to criticize us for not following their strict code of conduct, even though we rate highly by their own code and metrics, is an ironic contradiction.”
