2026 College Free Speech Rankings: Texas Universities Lag Behind National Leaders

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The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has released its 2026 College Free Speech Rankings, the most comprehensive survey of campus expression in the United States. Drawing on responses from nearly 70,000 students across 257 institutions, the rankings reveal a sobering reality: most American colleges are failing when it comes to protecting free expression.

Nationally, the best performers, Claremont McKenna College, Purdue University, the University of Chicago, Michigan Technological University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, each managed only modest passing grades, topping out at a B-. At the other end of the spectrum, Barnard College, Columbia University, Indiana University, the University of Washington, and Northeastern University sit at the very bottom, all earning F grades. This national spread illustrates both the potential for improvement and the depth of the challenges facing higher education.

Against this backdrop, Texas institutions tell a disappointing story of their own. From the University of Texas at El Paso to Rice University, every Texas school surveyed received either a D or an F, underscoring a systemic weakness in cultivating environments where students feel free to express controversial ideas.

Political Violence and the Chilling Effect on Campus Free Speech

This year’s rankings are not being released in a vacuum. Any discussion of free expression on America’s campuses now takes place in the shadow of the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk. On September 10, 2025, Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” The assailant, positioned on a rooftop near the venue, fired into an audience of roughly 3,000 people, striking Kirk in the neck. He later died at the hospital.

Authorities quickly arrested 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, who was charged with aggravated murder and firearms offenses after his father identified him from surveillance footage. Investigators say Robinson had recently become more political and expressed opposition to Kirk’s views. The killing drew condemnation across the political spectrum and renewed calls to confront the rising threat of political violence in the United States.

This act of violence underscores a critical point about the state of free speech in higher education. If a nationally known figure can be assassinated for his views while speaking on a college campus, students and faculty may understandably feel even more reluctant to express themselves openly. The climate of self-censorship that FIRE documents in its survey data is likely to worsen, as controversial speech risks not only social or administrative backlash but also physical harm. The Kirk assassination is a sobering reminder that free speech is inseparable from the duty to safeguard the physical safety of speakers and audiences alike. Without that foundation, the ideals of open debate and inquiry cannot be sustained.

National Leaders and Laggards in Free Speech

Claremont McKenna College secured the number one spot for the second time in six years, posting an overall score of 79.86 and a speech climate grade of B-. Close behind were Purdue University (76.24), the University of Chicago (76.13), Michigan Technological University (75.55), and the University of Colorado at Boulder (74.46).

In contrast, Barnard College ranked last with a score of 40.74, followed by Columbia University (42.89), Indiana University (43.87), the University of Washington (43.92), and Northeastern University (46.81). All five earned failing grades, with their students reporting widespread self-censorship, distrust in administrators, and frequent disruption of campus events.

Texas Colleges in the 2026 Free Speech Rankings

Texas institutions make a notable showing in the rankings, but none performed well enough to pass. The University of Texas at El Paso leads the state, placing 42nd nationally with a score of 65.53, a grade of D. Texas A&M University follows at 47th with a score of 63.75, also earning a D. The University of Texas at Arlington ranks 56th with a score of 62.72, and the University of Texas at San Antonio comes in at 62nd with a score of 61.72, which is just below passing and reflects a grade of D-.

Further down the list, Texas Tech University sits at 102nd with a score of 58.95, and Texas State University falls to 112th with 58.22. Both are in the failing range. The University of Texas at Austin, the flagship of the state system, ranks only 167th with a score of 56.03. The University of North Texas follows at 200th with 54.03, while the University of Houston is close behind at 203rd with 53.94. Rice University, despite its national reputation as an elite private institution, performs poorly at 235th with a score of 50.64. The University of Texas at Dallas rounds out the state’s showing, coming in at 240th with 50.16.

It is worth noting that Baylor University, one of Texas’s largest private universities, does not appear in the 2026 rankings at all. FIRE’s methodology surveys students across a selected pool of 257 institutions, and Baylor was not included in this year’s dataset. Its absence means there is no direct measure of how students at Baylor perceive the climate for free expression, but the exclusion itself underscores that not all major institutions are represented.

Table 1. Texas Colleges in the 2026 Free Speech Rankings

Rank	School	Score	Grade	Compared to 2025
42	University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)	65.53	D	🔺
47	Texas A&M University	63.75	D	🔻
56	University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)	62.72	D	🔺
62	University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)	61.72	D-	🔺
84	Southern Methodist University (SMU)	59.71	D-	🔻
102	Texas Tech University	58.95	F	🔺
112	Texas State University	58.22	F	🔻
167	University of Texas at Austin	56.03	F	🔺
200	University of North Texas (UNT)	54.03	F	🔻
203	University of Houston (UH)	53.94	F	🔺
235	Rice University	50.64	F	🔻
240	University of Texas at Dallas (UTD)	50.16	F	🔺

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights & Expression, 2026 College Free Speech Rankings

The Texas Legislature and Free Speech on Campus

The disappointing performance of Texas universities in FIRE’s 2026 rankings comes despite the fact that state lawmakers have made campus free speech a recurring priority. In 2019, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 18 (SB 18), authored by State Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), a landmark measure declaring that outdoor common areas of public universities are traditional public forums. The law directed universities to adopt policies guaranteeing that students and faculty could engage in expressive activities without prior permission, invite speakers regardless of viewpoint, and form organizations without discrimination on the basis of political, religious, or ideological beliefs. SB 18 also required institutions to establish grievance procedures and disciplinary sanctions for those who unduly interfered with the speech of others, while restricting administrators to using content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral standards when evaluating events.

Since SB 18, the Legislature has continued to revisit the issue. In the 88th Legislative Session of 2023, lawmakers targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, arguing that such bureaucracies often reinforce ideological conformity and discourage open dialogue. Supporters of these reforms insisted that eliminating DEI offices would help restore neutrality and prevent administrative gatekeeping of speech. Opponents countered that the measures risked silencing marginalized voices. The debate itself reflected the Legislature’s growing focus on how administrative structures shape the climate for speech.

The 89th Session of 2025 kept the momentum going. Lawmakers examined bills that touched on institutional neutrality, limits on taxpayer-funded political advocacy, and strengthened protections for student organizations. While not all proposals advanced, the repeated attention showed that campus speech is no longer treated as a niche concern. Instead, it has become part of a broader legislative agenda addressing how universities balance academic freedom with political accountability.

Texas Legislature Launches Select Committees on Free Speech

The tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk accelerated these legislative efforts. In the days following his death, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) announced the creation of the House and Senate Select Committees on Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech in Higher Education, explicitly formed to honor Kirk’s legacy and to examine the culture of free expression on Texas campuses.

The committee membership includes:

Their charge is to study bias, discourse, and freedom of speech across Texas campuses, issue public reports, and investigate how recently enacted laws such as Senate Bill 37 (SB 37), which mandates review of university course requirements, and Senate Bill 2972 (SB 2972), which restricts the time, place, and manner of campus protests, are being implemented.

Patrick called Kirk’s murder “an attack on the First Amendment,” while Burrows described the public celebration of his assassination by some faculty and students as “appalling” and evidence of a deeper systemic problem. Their press release emphasized that Texas has a responsibility to ensure its publicly funded universities protect free expression and provide safe environments for political gatherings.

No hearing schedule has yet been announced, but the committees’ broad scope and high-level leadership suggest they will play a central role in shaping future policy. Whether the outcome is stricter enforcement of neutrality, reform of curricula, or tighter oversight of protests, the creation of these select committees signals that free speech has moved to the very center of Texas’s higher education debates.

Conclusion

The 2026 College Free Speech Rankings show that Texas universities are lagging behind national leaders. Not a single school in the state reached a passing grade, while some of the nation’s best institutions managed to earn modest but meaningful success. The absence of Baylor University from the rankings leaves unanswered questions about one of Texas’s largest private schools, but the picture among the included universities is clear: higher education in Texas must do more to restore a culture of open inquiry.

The tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk illustrates what is at stake. Free speech requires not only formal protections but also a culture of respect and, critically, a commitment to safety. Without those foundations, students, faculty, and visiting speakers cannot meaningfully participate in the open exchange of ideas that higher education is meant to foster. The formation of select legislative committees in Texas underscores that policymakers recognize the gravity of the moment. For the Lone Star State, the challenge is urgent: to turn laws on the books into lived realities on its campuses, before the climate for free expression erodes even further.

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