FIRE rates the policies that regulate student expression at hundreds of colleges and universities. Institutions are rated annually as “green light,” “yellow light,” or “red light” based upon the extent to which they restrict free speech.

• FIRE has evaluated more than 600 colleges and universities; only 60 have received “green light ratings.”
• Three of those – Keene State, Plymouth State, and UNH – are here in NH.

“Students and faculty at the ‘Live Free or Die’ state’s flagship university should be proud to know that their school’s speech policies fall in line with their state’s motto.”

Azhar Majeed
FIRE Vice President of Policy Reform

All USNH institutions are “green lights.”

You can find the most recent FIRE ratings evaluating commitment to Free Speech HERE (filter by state to isolate NH)

UNH is currently #16 in 2022 College Free Speech Rankings.

Granite Staters can be proud that their public university system has made its campuses into forums for the free exchange of ideas. And they can be thankful to FIRE for encouraging good behavior by monitoring campus speech policies and publishing these rankings.

The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
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President James W. Dean Jr.’s Comments on Free Speech

Our freedoms are largely created by education, and on the knowledge and understanding that education produces…In fact, education and freedom are so tightly intertwined that it is impossible to imagine true freedom without education. And not surprisingly, their opposites—ignorance and oppression—are also tightly linked.

James Dean
President of the University of NH
Interim Chancellor of the University system of NH