The free speech climate on five Connecticut college campuses has improved slightly but remains below the national average, according to a recent survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
According to FIRE’s 2027 College Free Speech Rankings, the five Connecticut colleges included in the survey earned an average score of 58.6 out of 10, or the equivalent of an ‘F’ grade. While that score is one point higher than FIRE’s 2026 survey of free speech on those college campuses, the state’s schools’ collective rankings fell three places from the previous year and fell below the national average score of 61.36.
The survey, which collected responses from 62,997 students across 262 colleges and universities, included the University of Connecticut (UConn), Connecticut College, Yale University, Wesleyan University, and Trinity College. UConn was the only public school included in the survey.
Yale received the highest rating, at 72 points, and, unlike the other schools, received a “yellow light” rating. Yale was also ranked in the top 25 schools across the country for students’ tolerance of hosting speakers from across the political spectrum and in the top 50 schools for self-censorship, “meaning students report comparatively less hesitancy to speak.
However, according to the survey, 49 percent of students at Yale said they have self-censored their speech at least once or twice per month, and 74 percent said shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking is acceptable in at least some cases.
Factored into the school’s grade is a 2026 controversy surrounding protests related to farm workers’ rights where students had to move a planned protest off-campus after being told by administrators it could not be held on school grounds because it was not organized by a registered student group. The incident knocked a point off the school’s total score.
The school gained points for adopting a policy committing itself to institutional neutrality but lost points for not adopting the Chicago Statement, a model free speech and open debate policy statement adopted by the University of Chicago in 2014. The University of Chicago also received the highest rating in FIRE’s 2027 survey, earning the top spot for the third time in seven years.
Wesleyan University received the second-highest score of the schools surveyed in Connecticut, at 61. UConn, Connecticut College, and Trinity College all received ‘F’ grades.
While UConn’s score for students self-censoring jumped 121 places from the bottom 50 schools included in the survey in 2026, the school earned a yellow light rating, in part because it has not adopted an institutional neutrality policy or the Chicago Statement. UConn received the lowest scores for political tolerance and administrative support of students’ speech rights.
Connecticut College received a red light rating in FIRE’s survey. It received an ‘F’ for its political tolerance, a score which decreased from 2026. The school also has not adopted an institutional neutrality policy or the Chicago Statement.
Trinity College was ranked 223 out of the 261 schools included in the survey, falling 42 places from 2026. Its score for administrative support of student speech rights was in the bottom 25 of schools ranked. Its scores for students’ comfort expressing ideas and political tolerance also fell, by 171 places and 131 places respectively.
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