College campuses have increasingly censored pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the past two years as the conflict in Gaza has carried on, according to a new report by a free speech advocacy group.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression reported Thursday that most of the censorship incidents in 2023-24 targeted students protesting Israel’s military response to the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 others were taken hostage.
That’s an abrupt change from 2020-22, when most incidents the Philadelphia free speech group tracked involved students protesting diversity, equity and inclusion programs after the death of George Floyd and expressing traditional gender beliefs to criticize transgenderism.
“There has been a shift over the past five years with regards to both the political direction of these attempts as well as the topics of controversial speech,” Logan Dougherty, a FIRE senior researcher and author of the report, told The Washington Times.
“From 2020-2022, most attempts to punish students and student groups were initiated from their left and for speech about race. From 2023-2024, most were initiated from their right and for speech about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said.
Despite this shift, Mr. Dougherty noted that roughly 59% of campus censorship attempts during the past five years came from the political left, compared with 41% from the political right.
The FIRE report found that American colleges punished or investigated 637 students and campus groups from 2020 to 2024, resulting in 1,014 cases of schools trying to muzzle them. It did not track incidents from earlier periods.
About 63% of all incidents during the period resulted in an administrative punishment, ranging from investigations to mandatory sensitivity training and expulsion.
FIRE’s Students Under Fire database flagged Harvard University, American University and Syracuse University among the worst offenders in 2020-24.
Students for Justice in Palestine, a network of students critical of Israel that occupied campuses during mass protests, surged from 13 censorship incidents in 2022 to 27 in 2023 and 28 last year.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, said the numbers confirm that Islamaphobia is at an all-time high on campuses.
“FIRE’s new report reinforces CAIR’s own evidence that too many administrators at American universities have abandoned free speech in favor of punishing or silencing Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Arab and other students who have protested against Israel’s apartheid and genocide policies,” said Corey Saylor, CAIR’s research and advocacy director.
The next most-targeted or punished groups on FIRE’s list were conservative, but faced diminishing harassment after the terror attack.
The report found that censorship incidents in 2024 dropped to just six actions targeting the College Republicans, eight against Young America’s Foundation, and nine involving Turning Point USA.
Spencer Brown, a Young America’s Foundation spokesman, said colleges have nevertheless continued blocking his network of conservative students from discussing race and gender issues, reflecting a longstanding liberal bias on campuses.
He cited the recent examples of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University telling YAF students they could not discuss “the number of genders;” the University of Alabama ordering its YAF chapter to affirm transgenderism to gain recognition as a student club; and St. Louis University punishing YAF students for a pro-Israel 9/11 display last year.
“The universities YAF pursues action against don’t simply fail to promote the free and open exchange of ideas or freedom of expression,” Mr. Brown said. “They willfully snuff out intellectual diversity because they are committed to being indoctrination centers for the Left, not venues for rigorous education.”
The FIRE report found that colleges suspended 72 students or groups, expelled or defunded 55 and unenrolled 19 others “under ambiguous circumstances.”
According to the report, increased pressure from conservative lawmakers and campus donors to suppress student protests against Israel has challenged a longstanding trend of liberal administrators singling out conservative students.
For example, it noted that interventions by state Republican lawmakers in October 2023 prompted the public University of Virginia to crack down on Students for Justice in Palestine.
More recently, the second Trump administration has threatened to pull funding from Harvard and other elite institutions over their handling of anti-Semitic incidents during campus protests.
So far, FIRE said 2025 is on pace to double last year’s total of censorship incidents.
According to higher education insiders, it remains to be seen whether college censorship declines over the next few years.
“I’m cautiously hopeful, but only if campus leaders make a concerted effort,” said Cedric B. Howard, an education consultant and associate vice chancellor at Seattle Colleges, a network of two-year campuses in Washington. “That includes investing in programs that promote civil discourse, recruiting faculty and staff with diverse viewpoints, and clearly articulating why free speech matters, not just in theory but in practice.”
Daniel E. Hall, a Miami University political scientist and FIRE member, said censorship could worsen because Mr. Trump “has actively interjected federal authority into campus free speech issues” in a way that goes beyond Biden administration attempts to control social media.
“To be clear, the First Amendment doesn’t protect trespass, vandalism, or interfering with the rights of others,” Mr. Hall said. “But the use of the federal funding sledgehammer to press universities to punish students is dangerous because it can lead to a chilling of speech and to the punishment of students who weren’t violating the law.”
