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Most students say their colleges promote free speech

By Aubrey Wright

Posted April 28, 2025

In response to protests on college campuses, the Lumina Foundation and Gallup State of Higher Education Study included questions about free speech on campus. (Devan Ridgway, WTIU)

Most college students reported their institutions support free speech, according to a 2025 Lumina Foundation and Gallup study.

The responses were almost the same across political parties, genders and races.

Courtney Brown, Lumina vice president of impact and planning, said the survey shows free speech on college campuses is a more thoughtful and less chaotic issue than the media suggest. Lumina, an Indianapolis-based foundation for education after high school, has collaborated for the last five years with Gallup for the State of Higher Education Study.

Contradicting narratives that colleges are silencing students, Brown said most reported they can share their thoughts on race, gender, sexual orientation and religion.

“All students overwhelmingly feel like they are being respected and that they are able to share their opinions freely on campus,” Brown said. “I think that's really important, because that's what higher ed is all about. It's about learning and sharing opinions and hearing other ideas from your fellow students.”

The report on free speech focuses on students pursuing bachelor’s degrees at four-year institutions, Brown said.

“Around this time last year, there were a lot of protests going on, and the media was talking about all these protests and showing horrifying pictures in very specific places,” Brown said. “So, we thought, well, let's ask students what's going on. What are they experiencing?”

About 75 percent of those polled said their institutions do an “excellent” or “good” job promoting free speech, the survey found. Republican, Democratic and Independent students reported about the same figures. The same goes for men and women, and students of different races and ethnicities, Brown said.

“The most surprising thing that we found was that 73 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of Democrats,” Brown said. “I expected we would see more Republicans saying there is not free speech on campus, and these results tell us a very different story.”

About 69 percent of Black students said they were treated with respect by other students, the lowest percent of each race and ethnicity. They also reported being harassed and discriminated against more often than students of other races.

Brown said the survey also shows that a quarter of students feel they can't freely express themselves. Five percent of students said their institution did a poor job promoting free speech.

“Every student should be able to freely express themselves on campus,” Brown said. “That's what college is about.”

Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright