WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue University has earned a spot among the nation’s highest-ranked colleges for free speech, placing No. 3 among public universities and No. 7 overall in the 2027 College Free Speech Rankings.
The rankings, released Wednesday, Sept. 9, were compiled by College Pulse and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, known as FIRE. Purdue’s overall score increased to 76.9, up from 76.24 the previous year.
More than 63,000 students from 262 colleges and universities across the country participated in the survey, including 312 Purdue students.
The rankings are based on 12 components, including student perceptions of free speech on campus, university speech policies and how institutions respond to speech-related controversies.
Purdue has continued to receive recognition for its commitment to free expression. In 2015, the university became the first public university — and the second university overall — to adopt what is now known as the Chicago Statement of Principles, which supports free and open expression on college campuses.
The university also maintains a policy of institutional neutrality and was the first major university to incorporate a free-speech presentation into its orientation program for incoming students. The presentation was added to Purdue’s Boiler Gold Rush orientation program in 2016 and continues to be presented to new students each August.
“Purdue’s long-standing commitment to freedom of expression and the robust free speech culture it engenders is one of our greatest strengths and shared values,” Purdue Provost Patrick Wolfe said. “Dialogue and debate are critical to scholarly inquiry, no less than to civic life, and a central responsibility of universities like ours in constitutional democracies is to protect and foster an environment that supports free, robust and uninhibited debate and exchange of ideas.”
The 2027 report, titled “What Is the State of Free Speech on American Campuses,” marks the seventh consecutive year FIRE and College Pulse have surveyed college students about their experiences and perceptions surrounding free speech on campus.
FIRE is a nonprofit organization focused on defending individual rights to free speech and free thought.
