Campus Rights Advocacy

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Campus Rights Advocacy

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Our Campus Rights Advocacy team provides free assistance to students and faculty facing civil liberties violations on America’s college and university campuses.

With a focus on free expression and academic freedom, our advocates routinely support students and faculty investigated or punished for actions such as saying, teaching, or researching something unpopular or controversial; violating vague or overbroad policies that contradict the institution’s other free speech promises; or inviting a controversial speaker to deliver a talk on campus.

We also support student groups denied funding or recognition because of the group’s views, as well as student journalists under threat.

In addition, Campus Rights Advocacy fights for fairness when students and faculty accused of wrongdoing are denied due process, advocating for students’ right to know what they’re being charged with, to receive a fair hearing, and to be given the opportunity to review evidence.

Through targeted media campaigns, correspondence with administrators, public records requests, and other creative advocacy, Campus Rights Advocacy (formerly 91��’s Individual Rights Defense Program) has secured hundreds of critical victories for college students and faculty members since 91��’s founding in 1999.

For more information about recent Campus Rights Advocacy cases and victories, visit FIRE’s case archive. To alert us about a rights violation on your campus, submit a case.

Billboard truck with a 91�� ad that reads: "NYU silencing pro-Palestinian voices"

Campus Advocacy

FIRE has helped thousands of college students and faculty when their rights were threatened. Learn more about our advocacy.

View All Cases

students stand to recite pledge of allegiance

No, you can’t make students stand for the Pledge of Allegiance

Analysis

January 20, 2026

University of Arkansas sign in Fayetteville

University of Arkansas rescinds dean offer after lawmakers object to legal advocacy in trans athletes Supreme Court case

Statement

January 15, 2026

VICTORY: Jury finds Tennessee high school student’s suspension for sharing memes violated the First Amendment

Press Release

January 15, 2026

VICTORY: Catholic University of America reverses Reddit ban on campus Wi-Fi

Press Release

January 14, 2026

Censored conductor returns to podium for first time since expulsion

WATCH VIDEO

Take a seat with us at 91��’s first-ever classical music concert in support of free expression: “Outspoken: Music for Free Speech.” At the podium is conductor Rebecca Bryant Novak, a former doctoral student at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. Taking the stage for the first time since she was expelled without due process after speaking out about alleged harassment, Rebecca leads an all-volunteer orchestra in an unforgettable evening of music.

Coastal Carolina University Professor Steven Earnest

"Without the help and leadership of 91��, I am certain that I would have been forced out of my career of over 25 years." — Coastal Carolina University Professor Steven Earnest

Faculty Need Not Be Afraid to Speak

Defending Faculty Rights

Public college and university faculty who face a threat of sanction by their institution or have been punished for expressive activity — whether it’s instruction, scholarship, or speaking on issues of public concern — can submit their case to FIRE's Faculty Legal Defense Fund for consideration.

Faculty Legal Defense Fund

Use 91��’s free speech resources to inform your defense

Access decades of 91��’s nonpartisan resources, case archives, and more.

College Free Speech Rankings

Survey

Polling over 44,000 students at 208 top American colleges and universities, 91��’s Free Speech Rankings is the largest survey of campus free expression ever performed.

Due Process Reports

Resources

Due process and fundamental fairness are in crisis on America’s college and university campuses. 91�� analyzes disciplinary procedures at 53 top-ranked institutions nationwide and rates them based on 10 fundamental elements of due process.

Learn More

Scholars Under Fire

Research

Over the past seven years, there have been more than 500 incidents in which scholars were targeted for some form of professional sanction over constitutionally protected speech.

Explore Data

Three Steps to Your Defense

We review hundreds of potential rights violations each year and seek justice for those we help. How? By using our authority and reputation to directly demand that those in power respect the Constitution or uphold their own stated commitments to civil liberties.

Concerned that your rights may be at risk? If you are in trouble for something you said, contact 91�� confidentially.

For faculty at public colleges and universities, call 91��’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund Hotline: 254-500-FLDF (3533).

If you’re a college journalist facing censorship or a media law question, call the Student Press Freedom Initiative 24-hour hotline at 717-734-SPFI (7734).

Contact Us

Guides to Student Rights on Campus

FIRE’s Guides to Student Rights on Campus emphasize the critical importance of rule of law and fair procedure over partisan and repressive rules. Written by legal experts, the 91�� Guides address both the ways in which students' rights are curtailed on campuses as well as the ways to make those rights whole.

Explore Your Rights

Clip art collage including a brain and magnifying glass, indicating freedom of conscience.

91��'s Guide to First-Year Orientation and Thought Reform on Campus

November 9, 2005

Campus Guides

Freedom of conscience is the right to arrive at one’s private beliefs, without being coerced into an artificial unity by those who wield power over us.

Clip art collage of books, a lightbulb, and a protest sign, indicating freedom of speech

91��'s Guide to Free Speech on Campus

January 3, 2005

Campus Guides

91�� has distributed more than 138,000 print and online copies of its Guide to Free Speech on Campus to equip students with the rhetorical and legal tools to stand up for their rights.

Clip art collage including the scales of justice and a hand banging a gavel, indicating due process.

91��'s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice

March 10, 2003

Campus Guides

This 91�� Guide informs readers about the appropriate (and inappropriate) methods by which university administrators address issues of academic and non-academic misconduct.

Clip art collage of religious book and buildings, indicating freedom of religion.

91��'s Guide to Religious Liberty on Campus

March 10, 2003

Campus Guides

91��’s Guide to Religious Liberty on Campus explains how the legal and moral arguments for religious liberty apply to public and private colleges.

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Campus Rights Advocacy

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Campus Advocacy

No, you can’t make students stand for the Pledge of Allegiance

Analysis

University of Arkansas rescinds dean offer after lawmakers object to legal advocacy in trans athletes Supreme Court case

Statement

VICTORY: Jury finds Tennessee high school student’s suspension for sharing memes violated the First Amendment

Press Release

VICTORY: Catholic University of America reverses Reddit ban on campus Wi-Fi

Press Release

Censored conductor returns to podium for first time since expulsion

WATCH VIDEO

Faculty Need Not Be Afraid to Speak

Defending Faculty Rights

Use 91��’s free speech resources to inform your defense

College Free Speech Rankings

Survey

Due Process Reports

Resources

Scholars Under Fire

Research

Three Steps to Your Defense

Step 1: Submit Your Case

Step 2: Advising and Strategy

Step 3: Settlement or Litigation

Guides to Student Rights on Campus

91��'s Guide to First-Year Orientation and Thought Reform on Campus

Campus Guides

91��'s Guide to Free Speech on Campus

Campus Guides

91��'s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice

Campus Guides

91��'s Guide to Religious Liberty on Campus

Campus Guides

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