On campus and off, defending expressive rights is critical to ensuring an America where you feel safe to speak freely.
Since 1999, FIRE has amassed more than 690 victories defending student and faculty rights on more than 300 campuses nationwide.
In 2025, FIRE actively litigated 34 cases.
In 2025, FIRE was mentioned more than 21,500 times in the news media. FIRE is bringing the heat everywhere!
FIRE regularly reaches an audience of more than 1,000,000 email subscribers and social media followers.
If what happened to me becomes the norm, colleges across America will become less curious, less vibrant, and less free.
After professor Vinita Prabhakar assigned a commonly-taught short story for her freshman English course, the president of South Florida State College dragged her into a meeting, complained the story was "political," and ordered her to stop teaching it.
FIRE helps people whose expressive rights have been violated — and those violations take a lot of forms. If you think your rights have been violated, tell us about it. Our team will review your case to see how we can help. It’s totally confidential and there’s never a cost to you.
FIRE defends and promotes the individual rights of all Americans in our courtrooms, on our campuses, and in our culture.
Freedom of speech is a human right and a fundamental American freedom.
Educators on college and university campuses must be free to ask tough questions and facilitate learning without the threat of institutional censorship.
Due process demands that authorities provide fair, unbiased, and equitable procedures when determining a person’s guilt or innocence.
Freedom of the press protects the ability of journalists and news media to publish information free from official censorship.
Freedom of assembly is the right of individuals to come together to express shared ideas, and is guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Religious liberty is the right to follow the faith of your choice — or to follow no faith at all.
Freedom of conscience means the right to arrive at one’s private beliefs without being coerced into an artificial unity by those who wield power over us.
The government’s efforts to fight discrimination on campus in the name of Title IX have sometimes overstepped the bounds of the Constitution.
The retaliation over my speech confirms that there is a huge issue with the culture of the Allentown Police Department. These officers have a disdain for the rights of the people they’re sworn to protect — and I hope my lawsuit changes things for the better.
To protest the Allentown Police Department's long history of brutality and misconduct, and to advocate for greater police accountability, Phil Rishel non-disruptively films Allentown police officers while standing on public sidewalks outside local police precincts. But Allentown police don't like the attention, and they haven't been shy about letting Rishel know it.
FIRE's Faculty Legal Defense Fund offers "first responder" assistance to protect the expressive and academic freedom rights of faculty at public colleges and universities. If you face censorship or retaliation for your instruction or scholarship, or for your speech on issues of public concern as a private citizen, then we may be able to help.
University administrators turned me into a pariah on campus because I included a land acknowledgment that wasn’t sufficiently progressive for them.
When Professor Stuart Reges challenged the University of Washington’s position on land acknowledgements, administrators punished him, undermining his academic freedom. He reached out to FIRE, and we took the university to court.
America’s colleges and universities have been engines of discovery and knowledge, but many institutions have strayed from their core missions. As colleges and universities look to regain trust, their leaders should recommit to their institutions’ core values. They can start with these 10 common-sense reforms.
Are you a student journalist? FIRE has your back. Our Student Press Freedom Initiative (SPFI) defends free press on campus by advocating for the rights of student journalists across the country.
FIRE filed a lawsuit against the university to protect student press freedoms for Jared, The Indian Leader, and student journalists around the country.
The president of Haskell Indian Nations University issued an unconstitutional directive to student journalist Jared Nally, editor-in-chief of the award-winning student newspaper, The Indian Leader, that formally forbade Jared from engaging in protected journalistic activities. The president also directed Jared to start showing university administrators the “highest respect” — or else!
FIRE defends and sustains the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the essential qualities of liberty — and carries out this mission through several core services.
FIRE’s signature, core defense program provides free, non-legal assistance to individuals whose fundamental civil liberties are violated.
FIRE strategically litigates in courts nationwide to vindicate the First Amendment and due process rights of everyday Americans.
FIRE’s College Policy Reform team works to proactively and systematically challenge campus policies that violate the free speech rights of students and faculty.
FIRE defends your individual rights at the state and federal level by advocating for rights-protective legislation and against bills that would abridge those rights.
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