Texas Universities Earn F Rating on Free Speech

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The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has released its 2027 College Free Speech Rankings, and the results once again raise serious concerns about the state of free speech on Texas college campuses.

Twelve Texas colleges and universities were included in this year’s rankings. Collectively, they earned an average speech climate grade of F, below the national average of D-, and an average national rank of 160th out of 261 schools. Texas’s average ranking also fell 31 places from the previous year. FIRE identified 25 speech controversies involving Texas schools, including 12 new controversies in 2026.

The rankings are based on student surveys, campus speech policies, and how universities respond to speech-related controversies. FIRE and College Pulse surveyed 62,997 undergraduate students from 262 colleges and universities between January and June 2026.

The national picture improved somewhat compared with the previous year, but the Texas results remain troubling.

Texas College Free Speech Earns an F

The highest-ranked Texas school this year is the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), which ranks 48th nationally with a D+ speech climate grade. Southern Methodist University (SMU) follows at 52nd, while the University of Texas at Arlington ranks 53rd.

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) ranks 67th, while the University of Texas at Austin (UT) ranks 124th. From there, the rankings deteriorate considerably.

The University of Houston (UH) ranks 183rd, Texas A&M University (TAMU) ranks 192nd, and Texas Tech University (TTU) ranks 193rd.

Near the bottom of the national rankings are the University of North Texas (UNT) at 248th, Rice University at 250th, the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) at 251st, and Texas State University at 259th. Texas State is now the third-lowest-ranked university in the country, ahead of only the University of Washington and New York University.

The statewide picture is particularly notable because TAMU is the only Texas institution to receive FIRE’s “green light” rating for its written speech policies, yet it still ranks just 192nd nationally. Rice University and the UTD receive “red light” ratings, and both fall within the bottom 50 nationally.

That is important because FIRE’s college free speech rankings measure more than written policies. They also examine student perceptions, institutional conduct, and how universities respond when actual speech controversies occur.

Texas Students Self-Censor on Campus

Perhaps the most concerning findings are not the university rankings themselves, but what Texas students say about the culture of expression on their campuses.

According to FIRE, 42 percent of Texas students say they have self-censored on campus at least once or twice a month. Another 68 percent say shouting down a speaker to prevent the person from speaking can be acceptable in at least rare circumstances. Most troubling, 33 percent say using violence to stop someone from speaking on campus can be acceptable in at least rare cases.

Texas received a D for both “Comfort Expressing Ideas” and “Self-Censorship.” The state earned an F for “Administrative Support” and another F for “Political Tolerance.” FIRE found that political tolerance declined compared with the previous year.

These numbers reveal a broader problem with campus free speech in Texas.

A free society depends not merely on formal legal protections, but on a culture in which people are willing to hear arguments they strongly oppose. Shouting down a speaker is not debate. Preventing someone from speaking is not persuasion. Violence is not an answer to offensive or unpopular speech.

A university should be one of the places where those distinctions are understood most clearly.

Texas State University Free Speech Ranking Plummets

No Texas institution experienced a more dramatic decline than Texas State University.

Texas State now ranks 259th out of 261 schools, with an overall score of 47.82 and an F speech climate grade. Nationally, only the University of Washington and New York University rank lower.

The decline is not incremental. FIRE reports that Texas State experienced the largest year-over-year decrease in overall score of any school in the country, falling from 112th in the prior rankings to 259th this year.

FIRE attributes the decline primarily to Texas State’s handling of multiple campus speech controversies. The report highlights the termination of tenured history professor Thomas Alter after an online political speech, the expulsion of a student following comments mocking Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the cancellation of a Black History 101 Mobile Museum appearance, and employment action involving philosophy professor Idris Robinson.

These incidents involved very different speakers, political viewpoints, and controversies. That diversity is precisely why free speech principles matter.

The test of a commitment to free expression is not whether an institution protects speech that administrators, lawmakers, students, or the public approve of. The test comes when the speech is offensive, inflammatory, politically unpopular, or deeply objectionable.

Texas A&M Free Speech Ranking Also Falls Sharply

Texas A&M University also experienced one of the largest declines nationally. The university ranks 192nd with an F speech climate grade and an overall score of 57.37.

FIRE reports that Texas A&M’s overall score declined by nearly seven points. The report attributes the decline to worsening student perceptions of administrative support and penalties related to the university’s handling of several speech controversies.

That result is particularly notable because Texas A&M remains the only Texas university receiving FIRE’s “green light” designation for its written speech policies. The contrast reinforces an important point about First Amendment protections on college campuses. Written policies matter, but they are only one component of a healthy free speech culture. Administrators must also apply those principles consistently when controversies occur.

Texas Campus Free Speech Problems Persist

The latest rankings arrive after a year in which campus free speech in Texas received sustained attention from lawmakers, courts, and university officials.

During the interim, Texas lawmakers examined civil discourse and freedom of speech in higher education amid mounting concerns over censorship, administrative overreach, political pressure, and inconsistent enforcement of campus rules.

Much of that scrutiny was justified. Texas universities have repeatedly struggled to demonstrate that free expression will be protected consistently when controversial speech produces political or public backlash.

At the same time, recent experience also demonstrated the risks of responding to censorship with overly broad government restrictions.

Senate Bill 2972 (SB 2972), authored by former State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) and now Chancellor at TTU, enacted during the 89th Legislative Session (2025), attempted to regulate expressive activity on university campuses, including protest activity during certain hours and the use of amplified sound, expressive displays, and other forms of campus expression. A federal court later blocked portions of the law after finding that some restrictions were likely inconsistent with the First Amendment.

That episode should serve as an important lesson for lawmakers heading into the 90th Legislature, which is set to begin in January of 2027.

Texas does have a campus free speech problem. FIRE’s new rankings provide additional evidence of that problem. But the solution cannot be to give government broader authority to decide when, where, or how lawful political expression may occur. The proper role of the state is narrower and more defensible: ensure that public universities comply with the First Amendment, protect due process, apply rules neutrally, prohibit viewpoint discrimination, and hold institutions accountable when they punish constitutionally protected expression.

Replacing ideological censorship by university administrators with ideological control by elected officials would not represent a victory for free speech.

Protect Free Speech in Texas

The latest Texas college free speech rankings reinforce the need for reforms grounded in constitutional principle rather than political retaliation.

That approach is also reflected in the Texas Liberty Compact, Texas Policy Research’s (TPR) legislative framework for the 90th Legislature. One of the Compact’s ten reforms is to Protect Free Speech & Digital Expression, recognizing that government should not create constitutional limits by presuming or overregulating lawful expression.

While that reform applies broadly to speech in both physical and digital spaces, the principle is especially relevant to higher education. The First Amendment does not become less important when speech is controversial, unpopular, offensive, or politically inconvenient.

Texas Policy Research has previously outlined campus free speech reforms aimed at protecting those principles without expanding government control over expression. Those reforms have centered on aligning harassment policies with constitutional standards, eliminating designated free speech zones, protecting faculty and student expression, requiring institutional neutrality, preserving due process, publishing clear speech policies, protecting invited speakers and student events, and creating meaningful accountability when universities violate constitutional rights.

The central principle is straightforward: public universities should not decide which political or ideological viewpoints are acceptable. Neither should lawmakers.

Students on the political left should enjoy the same constitutional protections as students on the political right. Faculty members should not lose their rights because elected officials dislike their views. Conservative speakers should not be silenced because campus activists object to them, and progressive speakers should not be silenced because state officials object to them.

That is what a serious commitment to the First Amendment requires.

The Texas Liberty Compact’s broader standard is useful here as well: liberty should be presumed, especially in areas where government authority intersects with speech. For Texas higher education, that means lawmakers should focus on protecting constitutional rights, due process, viewpoint neutrality, and institutional accountability rather than creating new mechanisms for government to police lawful expression.

Campus Free Speech Remains a National Problem

Texas is hardly alone.

Across the country, FIRE found that the average overall free speech score increased to 61.36, the highest level recorded during the seven years of the rankings. Even so, that score corresponds to only a D-. Of the 261 ranked universities, 121 received an F, and just 24 received a C or better.

The University of Chicago ranks first nationally, followed by Claremont McKenna College, Georgia Tech, Michigan Technological University, and Vanderbilt University. Even the top two schools received only B- grades.

National student attitudes also remain troubling. More than two-thirds of students surveyed nationally said shouting down a campus speaker can be acceptable in at least some circumstances. Thirty percent said using violence to stop a campus speech can be acceptable at least rarely. FIRE also found that, for the second consecutive year, a majority of students opposed allowing each of six controversial speakers tested in the survey to appear on campus.

The ideological substance of the speech varied significantly. Some hypothetical speakers expressed views likely to offend conservatives. Others expressed views likely to offend liberals. Yet tolerance for controversial speech remained low across ideological lines.

That is an important difference. Campus censorship is not merely a problem for one political faction. Once the principle is established that objectionable speech may be suppressed, every political faction eventually faces the possibility that its own speech will be deemed objectionable.

Texas Free Speech Rankings Should Guide the 90th Legislature

The 2027 College Free Speech Rankings should give Texas lawmakers plenty to consider as they prepare for the 90th Legislature.

Texas universities collectively earned an average grade of F. The average Texas school ranks 160th nationally. Texas State University has fallen to 259th out of 261 schools, while Texas A&M and Texas Tech both rank below 190th.

The student survey results are equally concerning. Forty-two percent of Texas students say they self-censor at least once or twice a month. Sixty-eight percent say shouting down a speaker can be acceptable in at least rare circumstances. Thirty-three percent say violence to stop someone from speaking may be acceptable in at least rare cases.

Those numbers should not be dismissed as merely another set of university rankings. They reflect a deeper problem with the culture of free expression in higher education.

Texas lawmakers should insist that public universities respect constitutional rights. Consistent with the Texas Liberty Compact’s call to Protect Free Speech & Digital Expression, they should demand viewpoint-neutral rules, due process, transparency, and accountability while resisting attempts to expand government control over lawful speech. The First Amendment matters most precisely when government officials, administrators, or political majorities find expression objectionable.

The goal should not be to make Texas universities more conservative, progressive, Republican, or Democratic. The goal should be to make them freer.

That is the standard by which future higher education reforms should be judged.

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