Minnesota colleges earn F for campus free speech

Top Minnesota colleges are largely failing to create a healthy free speech climate on campus, according to a new national ranking.

State of speech: Colleges and universities nationwide earned an average D- in this year's report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

In Minnesota, the average grade was an F.

The big picture: Students are self-censoring at high rates amid intense political pressure from the Trump administration and efforts by some universities to change policies in response, Axios' Josephine Walker writes.

Such tensions have come to a head locally in recent years as students and faculty at the University of Minnesota have raised the alarm about campus policies on free speech and academic freedom.

Context: FIRE defines self-censorship as refraining from sharing views because of fear of social, professional, legal or violent consequences.

Zoom in: The University of Minnesota and Macalester College both flunked this year's rating, while Carleton College earned a D-.

Driving the grades: The report's authors dinged the U for failing to create an environment where students feel comfortable speaking openly, and critiqued Macalester's "restrictive written student policies" related to free expression and lack of tolerance for opposing political views.

"There is a lot of cancel culture here and sometimes people are quick to judge those who see things differently," one unnamed Macalester student told the authors.

Yes, but: Carleton improved on political tolerance and was ranked in the top 25 for creating an environment where students "can freely discuss difficult topics."

The report gave the U's Faculty Senate credit for past efforts to endorse free speech expression.

The other side: Axios reached out to all three institutions for comment on their grades. None answered.

Friction points: The topic students identified as the most difficult to discuss nationwide was the Israel-Palestine conflict, with 50% of students reluctant to broach it.

President Trump followed at 46%, and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated a year ago, at 44%.

Abortion ranked fourth at 43%. Immigration and transgender rights tied at roughly 38%.

Worth noting: The share of students who considered it acceptable to shout down speakers, block entry to speeches or use violence declined slightly from last year's record highs.

Zoom out: The rankings come as Trump increasingly tries to control what schools can teach, what diversity programs they can offer and which international students can attend American universities.

The administration has also pushed schools to restrict protests that it describes as antisemitic, including by withholding federal funding and pursuing lawsuits and investigations against universities.

Go deeper.