Campus free speech hits 20-year high under Trump administration– www.washingtontimes.com

Colleges are purging restrictive speech codes under the Trump administration and removing “bias reporting” policies that solicited anonymous complaints about microaggressions, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression reports.

The Philadelphia-based free-speech group flagged a record-low 66 schools, or 13.2% of all institutions, with a “red light” rating for written policies stifling campus protests, speaking events and online discussions. That’s down 1.5 percentage points from last year, and reverses two consecutive years of increases under the Biden administration.

At the same time, FIRE’s 20th annual report awarded a “green light” to 76 schools — 15.4% of 493 institutions surveyed — for placing no limits on First Amendment rights. That’s up from 73 last year and marks the second consecutive year of green lights outnumbering reds.

“Pressure from many state legislatures, as well as the reelection of Donald Trump and subsequent federal investigations, lawsuits, and shifts in research funding, have prompted internal review at many schools,” FIRE senior program counsel Ryan Ansloan said in a statement. “We hope this will translate to taking the side of free speech when controversies arise.”

FIRE started rating university speech codes with green, yellow or red lights in 2006, when just 2.4% of schools earned a green light and 97.6% received a yellow or red light.