Free speech has been a hot button issue at UIC as of late. This past September, members of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group at UIC worked with legal advice and advocacy organization, Palestine Legal, to file a formal complaint against UIC with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. This comes after multiple students claimed to be discriminated against by UIC back in the 2022-2023 academic year after speaking up about their concerns with a study abroad trip being held in Israel. SJP’s Instagram post explaining the situation has received over 4500 likes and has forced UIC students to become more cognizant of the experiences of their Palestinian peers, especially given the ongoing conflict with Israel. Amid the recent complaint, we have been reminded once again of the essential role that free speech plays on college campuses as forums for discussion. 

UIC students were recently surveyed by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “to defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought.” FIRE worked with College Pulse, a research and analytics organization that helps connect companies to college students to create the 2024 Free Speech Rankings, which compares the free speech culture of over 250 universities in the U.S.

The FIRE and College Pulse survey measured several variables: comfort expressing ideas, tolerance for liberal speakers, tolerance for conservative speakers, disruptive conduct, administrative support for free speech, and openness regarding discussing difficult issues on campus. Each university was also assigned an overall speech code rating which could be either warning, red, yellow, or green. It is important to note that a post-stratification adjustment was performed on the data to ensure that people of various identities (racial, gender, socioeconomic, etc.) were accurately and proportionately represented within the survey results, according to the article. 

UIC ranked #29 overall in FIRE and College Pulse’s free speech rankings. UIC’s free speech climate is considered to be slightly above average and their free speech code appears as yellow. Interestingly, the university was ranked #31 in students’ comfort expressing ideas and #29 in openness, but #106 for admin support, perhaps suggesting that while UIC students feel especially comfortable sharing their opinions with others, they don’t feel considerably supported by University administration to do so. Additionally, UIC was ranked #115 for tolerance for speakers and #120 for disruptive conduct, potentially indicating a lack of tolerance for controversial speech on campus.

Based on these statistics, UIC students certainly seem to feel comfortable expressing their opinions on campus. Being able to express personal beliefs and be open to conversations around difficult topics is incredibly important. In a world in which social media plays such a significant role in shaping people’s views about not only political and social issues, but also our opinions about each other, it has become increasingly difficult for people to feel comfortable having uncomfortable conversations out of fear of saying the wrong thing. In order to learn from each other and progress as a society, it is critical to cultivate environments on college campuses where students are able to have open dialogue about controversial issues and hear everyone out. Although there is certainly work to be done, it is an incredibly valuable thing that UIC ranks relatively high when it comes to comfort expressing ideas and openness. 

Even so, when we discuss free speech, we should also consider the limits we are willing to go to protect this liberty when it is being used to justify hate. Two of FIRE’s measurement categories included ‘tolerance for speakers’ and ‘disruptive conduct’ relating to free speech. According to the survey, the latter refers to measuring how acceptable students found actions like attempting to prevent a speaker from coming to campus or stopping students from attending a speech. Those who found this behavior unacceptable were given better scores in this area. In most cases, shouting down a speaker or prohibiting people from listening to them would be a violation of free speech. However, if someone is promoting hateful, discriminatory beliefs through their words, should they really still be protected by our right to free speech? 

For instance, one of the questions asked in the survey read, “Regardless of your own views on the topic, should your school ALLOW or NOT ALLOW a speaker on campus who previously expressed the following idea? **Transgender people have a mental disorder**” Based on the methodology for calculating the results explained on the site, responding that the college should allow this would indicate higher acceptance of free speech. This was not the most effective example to use when trying to measure overall tolerance to free speech. By protecting free speech in this scenario, on the most basic level you are simultaneously violating individuals’ right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – values that formed the foundation of our country. When certain liberties are being abused, limits are necessary, and discriminatory sentiments and hate speech should not be protected under free speech policies at universities. For this reason, it is unclear how much value we can truly assign to UIC’s ranking of #115 and #120 for tolerance for speakers and disruptive conduct, respectively.

Administrative support was another one of UIC’s lowest areas of ranking. The university was ranked #106 when it comes to students’ perceptions of their administrators’ support for free speech. Per UIC’s Open Expression Policy, UIC “values and respects freedom of thought, inquiry, speech and lawful assembly for all members of the university community.” Similar sentiments are echoed in the University of Illinois System Guiding Principles on Freedom of Speech on Campus. However, when UIC students were asked in the survey how evident it is that UIC administration protects the right to free speech, only 7% of respondents said “very clear.” 20%, or one of every five, respondents said “not very clear” or “not at all clear.” It is evident from these results that the University’s administration should be thinking critically about how to take action on their words and show students that their right to freedom of speech is protected. This means protecting even those who are speaking up against the University. Considering the UIC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine’s recent legal complaint against the university, this is a pressing concern of the UIC student body. 

Though survey results always come with a degree of uncertainty, FIRE’s Free Speech rankings can certainly be used as a tool to generally inform UIC students and administration on what the University is doing well and what can be improved upon when it comes to free speech culture. Students should continue to foster an environment on campus that is welcoming to all beliefs and work to create spaces for open discussion surrounding difficult-to-discuss issues. Disagreement can and should occur, and when it does, we should remain respectful of our peers’ beliefs as long as they don’t infringe upon others’ rights. Administration, on the other hand, has a responsibility to ensure UIC students are heard, whether they are speaking up for or against the University. Administrators should take students’ concerns seriously, listen to them intently, and address violations of free speech when they occur. As a whole, if we strive to become more conscientious of our tolerance to free speech, we can create a campus culture where productive dialogue and new ideas can flourish.