Because of its “abysmal” climate regarding free speech, Harvard University ranked last among 251 colleges and universities for the second year in a row in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) rankings.

“This year, however, Harvard is in company. Columbia University ranks 250th, also with an overall score of 0.00,” said the report released Thursday.

New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College ranked 1st to 5th, according to the report.

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Harvard University came in last place in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings. Harvard, Columbia, and NYU all received a “miserable” rating. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, file)

FIRE, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the First Amendment, in partnership with College Pulse, surveyed tens of thousands of students about the state of free speech on their college campuses for its annual College Free Speech Rankings.

“We’re trying to provide guidance on where students can get the best experience in college in terms of engaging with a broad range of views,” Sean Stevens, FIRE’s senior research advisor, told Fox News Digital.

A Barnard spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the college is “committed to protecting academic freedom and free expression and wants to create an environment where students, faculty and staff can engage in open and respectful dialogue.”

Barnard has adopted the Chicago Principles, a free speech policy previously supported by FIRE, and this school year a faculty committee will develop “a Barnard-specific framework,” the spokesperson continued.

Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

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The lowest-ranked universities have had incidents of censoring, suppressing or shouting down free speech, Stevens said. Since FIRE began evaluating schools in 2020, the bottom five colleges and universities have performed “consistently poorly,” he added.

“They rarely defend their opinions,” Stevens said. “When controversy arises, the speech is usually penalized. A speaker is disinvited. A faculty member is penalized in some way, or a student or a student organization.”

According to FIRE’s analysis, low performers share another notable common trait.

“Most students are very upset about the way the administration responded to the protests last year,” Stevens said.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters set up camp on the campus of Columbia University, pictured April 29, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the war that followed “sent shockwaves through American college and university campuses,” the FIRE report said. Protesters occupied Columbia’s South Lawn for about two weeks in April before police broke up the encampment.

After the camps began, researchers found a sharp increase in the percentage of Columbia students who reported self-censoring in class discussions or conversations with professors or other students.

At the other end of the free speech spectrum, the University of Virginia took the top spot. Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University and Georgia Institute of Technology rounded out the top five.

The full rankings can be viewed here.

Stevens found that high-performing schools had fewer controversies overall and that when controversies did arise, school administrators typically defended the right to free speech.

He hopes parents and prospective students will use FIRE’s ranking tool to make better-informed decisions. The tool also provides insight into the ratio of liberals to conservatives on campus and a deeper look into student attitudes toward free speech.

“The experience of open inquiry and this process of having to confront your own views and have them challenged” prepares students “to be better adult citizens of our country when they graduate,” Stevens said.

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FIRE and College Pulse surveyed a total of 257 college students, but excluded six from the main rankings and gave them a “warning” rating.

The private colleges, which include Pepperdine University, Hillsdale College and Brigham Young University, all have “policies that clearly and consistently express” that they “prioritize other values ​​over a commitment to free speech,” the FIRE report said.