Meanwhile, Purdue University is ranked second-best. Here’s the full report.

INDIANAPOLIS — The sixth annual College Free Speech rankings are out — and one central Indiana college took a hit while another is being praised. 

Indiana University Bloomington was ranked one of the worst colleges for free speech. Meanwhile, Purdue University is ranked second-best. 

The survey results were released Tuesday, Sept. 9 by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and College Pulse.

The survey ranked 257 schools based on 68,510 student responses to a “wide array of free speech-related questions,” according to FIRE. 

The students were surveyed via the College Pulse mobile app and web portal from Jan. 3 through June 5, 2025.

Other Indiana colleges on the rankings included the University of Notre Dame, which ranked No. 238, and DePauw University, which ranked No. 18. 

“This year, students largely opposed allowing any controversial campus speaker, no matter that speaker’s politics,” FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff said in a news release. “Rather than hearing out and then responding to an ideological opponent, both liberal and conservative college students are retreating from the encounter entirely. This will only harm students’ ability to think critically and create rifts between them. We must champion free speech on campus as a remedy to our culture’s deep polarization.”


Here are the top 10 best colleges for free speech

1. Claremont McKenna College

4. Michigan Technological University

5. University of Colorado, Boulder

6. University of North Carolina, Greensboro

8. Appalachian State University

9. Eastern Kentucky University

10. North Carolina State University


Here are the worst colleges for free speech

248. Loyola University, Chicago

252. University of California, Davis

253. Northeastern University

254. University of Washington

“Even one egregious anti-free speech incident can destroy students’ trust in their administration and cause a school to plummet in the rankings,” FIRE Vice President of Research Angela C. Erickson said in a news release. “If campus administrators, faculty, and students want to enjoy an atmosphere of trust on campus, they can start by protecting each other’s rights.”

The report says 166 of the 257 schools surveyed got an “F” for their speech climate, while only 11 schools received a speech climate grade of “C” or higher.

The report also says that only 36% of students said that it was “extremely” or “very” clear that their administration protects free speech on campus.

“More students than ever think violence and chaos are acceptable alternatives to peaceful protest,” FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said in a news release. “This finding cuts across partisan lines. It is not a liberal or conservative problem — it’s an American problem. Students see speech that they oppose as threatening, and their overblown response contributes to a volatile political climate.” 

You can looking at the full rankings online here.