Harvard University scored zero on a ranking for free speech.
An eleven-point difference separated the Ivy League school from the next-worst school.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which organizes college free speech rankings, called the university’s score “abysmal.”
Director of FIRE’s polling and analytics Sean Stevens stated, “I’m not totally surprised. We’ve done these rankings for years now, and Harvard is consistently near the bottom.”
FIRE noted that the 0.00 score was still “generous,” as the school actually scored -10.69.
“I thought it would be pretty much impossible for a school to fall below zero, but they’ve had so many scholar sanctions,” Stevens told the New York Post.
Nine of Harvard’s professors and researchers faced punishment or being fired for their views.
The next-worst school was the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, followed by the University of South Carolina in Columbia, Georgetown University in DC, and Fordham University.
The top five schools for free speech were Michigan Technological University, Auburn University, University of New Hampshire, Oregon State University, and Florida State University.
Reporting from The New York Post:
FIRE’s survey of 55,000 current students from 254 universities also yielded some staggering results. Fifty-six percent of students worry about getting canceled for something they said, and 27% said it’s acceptable to use violence to stop campus speech in some circumstances.
