Harvard, DePaul, and the universities of Alabama and North Carolina made the list of the 10 worst colleges for free speech in 2013. “College is where inquisitive minds go to be exposed to new ways of thinking. But on some campuses, the quest for knowledge is frustrated when administrators censor speech they would prefer be kept out of the marketplace of ideas,” writes Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) who compiled the list. (The Huffington Post, December 22, 2013, by Greg Lukianoff)
2013 saw many violations of student free speech, a number centering on the controversial practice of establishing “free speech zones.” (The Huffington Post, December 31, 2013, by Azhart Majeed of FIRE)
School speech codes present another barrier to free speech, writes Michael Guista, a college professor. “Quite often, these codes are unconstitutionally vague. Words ‘which cause a loss of self-esteem’ or ‘feelings of inadequacy’ or ‘discomfort’ are sometimes banned. But which words cause these?” writes Guista, Santa Maria Times, January 5, 2014.