Seven Texas universities failed a free speech report card while five others earned Ds, according to a national advocacy group’s annual review.
Together, the state’s campuses received an average speech climate grade of F, compared with a D-minus nationally. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, based its grades on surveys of undergraduates, policies governing student expression and how schools handled controversies involving students, faculty and campus events.
The group also ranked each school against 260 others. Four Texas schools ranked 248th or lower out of 261.
Among the students surveyed at the 12 Texas universities, 42% said they self-censored on campus at least once or twice a month.
The findings arrive amid a broader fight over campus expression in Texas, where lawmakers have restricted protests, expanded regents’ authority over what is taught and created a legislative committee on campus speech after students and faculty made comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death that the lawmakers described as inflammatory. Supporters say the changes protect civil discourse and viewpoints once suppressed at colleges; critics say they chill speech and academic freedom.
Nationally, FIRE cited universities’ decisions to discipline professors for social media comments about Kirk’s assassination as a major campus speech controversy this year..
“Rather than view the tragedy as a warning about the extreme results of partisanship and inability to peacefully engage in dialogue, many college admins took it as an invitation to double down on censorship,” FIRE chief researcher Sean Stevens said in a release.
Kirk was among several subjects students identified as difficult to discuss openly on campus, along with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, President Donald Trump, abortion, immigration and transgender rights.
FIRE used broad score ranges to assign letter grades, then used the exact scores to rank the schools. The group handed out Fs widely. Nearly half of the schools ranked, 121, received failing grades.
That helps explain why the Texas schools could receive similarly poor grades but finish far apart in the rankings. Here’s how the 12 Texas universities fared:
- University of Texas at El Paso, No. 48, D+
- Southern Methodist University, No. 52, D
- University of Texas at Arlington, No. 53, D
- University of Texas at San Antonio, No. 67, D
- University of Texas at Austin, No. 124, D-
- University of Houston, No. 183, F
- Texas A&M University, No. 192, F
- Texas Tech University, No. 193, F
- University of North Texas, No. 248, F
- Rice University, No. 250, F
- University of Texas at Dallas, No. 251, F
- Texas State University, No. 259, F
FIRE deducted one point from UT-Dallas’ score over a student press incident in which a former campus editor is now suing the school.
Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez was a former editor of The Mercury, a university-supported student newspaper. He later helped launch The Retrograde, an independent news outlet after a separate clash with administrators over oversight of The Mercury.
Olivares Gutierrez alleges in his suit, filed Sept. 16, that university officials violated his First Amendment rights by punishing him for editorial decisions he made while leading The Mercury.
The lawsuit centers on Olivares Gutierrez’s handling of a letter to the editor in August 2024. He asked the president of the Student Hillel Board to provide sources for factual claims about antisemitism, Zionism and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The Mercury published the letter in full but added an editor’s note saying its contents were “the opinion of the author and should not be treated as news.”
The note cited and linked to a June 2024 United Nations commission report that concluded Israeli authorities were responsible for war crimes. “Despite repeated requests to address the issue,” the note read, the letter “does not meet the journalistic standards of The Mercury.”
The author of the letter filed a discrimination complaint against Olivares Gutierrez with UT-Dallas’ Office of Institutional Compliance.
After a February 2026 hearing, a panel of outside attorneys hired by UT-Dallas found that Olivares Gutierrez’s editing exceeded ordinary editorial suggestions and placed him on deferred suspension for two years, according to the lawsuit. That allowed him to remain enrolled but meant he could be suspended if the university found him responsible for another violation during that period. The panel ordered him to complete nondiscrimination and media ethics courses and write a seven- to 10-page reflection, according to court documents.
Meanwhile, FIRE penalized Texas A&M for adopting a systemwide ban on drag shows at its special event venues and Texas State over its handling of a student who appeared to mock the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The student withdrew after he said an administrator told him he could withdraw or be expelled.
FIRE is representing students in lawsuits challenging Texas A&M’s drag-show ban and Senate Bill 2972, a state law restricting overnight expression and other activities on public university campuses.
Federal judges temporarily blocked the Texas A&M ban and the University of Texas System from enforcing parts of SB 2972. The university systems appealed both decisions. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments on the Texas A&M ban on Wednesday.
The Tribune contacted all 12 universities included in the rankings. Nine, including UT-Dallas, Texas A&M and Texas State, did not respond.
Megan Jacob, SMU’s director of media relations, said university officials have reinforced the university’s commitment to free expression over the past year by adopting institutional neutrality, a policy intended to encourage a diversity of viewpoints.
Jeff Caplan, UT-Arlington’s director of media relations, directed The Tribune to the university’s free-speech policy, which calls speech, expression and assembly fundamental rights while allowing the school to impose restrictions on when, where and how people exercise them.
Officials at the University of Houston disputed both FIRE’s methodology and its characterization of the campus. The survey relied on an opt-in panel of 274 UH students, which could disproportionately attract those with strong views about campus speech and might not represent the broader student body, according to a statement from school officials.
The statement goes on to note that FIRE failed to account adequately for UH’s policy on institutional neutrality and disputed the group’s classification of a canceled event featuring artist Shahzia Sikander as a deplatforming.
In a statement posted to Instagram at the time, Sikander said she had not asked the university to cancel the opening event or postpone the opening event and artist talk.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, The University of Texas – Dallas, The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas at San Antonio have been major financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. Open Campus, Rice University and University of Houston have been financial supporters within the past five years. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.
