The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranked USC 37th out of 261 colleges in the country following a reevaluation of their 2027 College Free Speech Rankings. According to a Sept. 9 press release, the shift comes from President Beong-Soo Kim’s changes to policies “governing events, posting, and conduct” so that the university may “encourage a culture of robust dialogue and debate.”
Previously ranked 198th out of 261 colleges before the reevaluation, this rise is mainly attributable to USC’s policies attaining a “green light” rating in FIRE’s Spotlight Database. FIRE defines this as universities who do not “seriously imperil speech” as far as they are aware of an institution’s written policies.
The written policies most recently evaluated by FIRE are the USC’s student handbook’s policies on Event Planning and Facility Reservation/Use; Cancellation of Events; and Advertising, Promotion/Publicity, and Literature Distribution. All three sections were awarded a green light rating.
USC’s policy on Hostile Environment Harassment in its Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation was also recently evaluated, but still retains the “yellow light” rating it had since at least USC’s past policy review on April 12, 2026.
In the press release, FIRE Director of Policy Reform Laura Beltz said there are many universities with “eloquent commitments to free inquiry and policies that quietly undercut them.”
“On its own initiative, USC worked with us to close that gap. It has earned the green light rating,” Beltz said.
It is unclear to what extent USC worked with FIRE in updating the university’s policies. When asked for clarification, USC provided Annenberg Media the following quote from Kim included in the press release:
“Open dialogue is easy to support in principle but more difficult to ingrain in the culture and actions of a university. USC is 100% committed to that work, which is foundational to everything we do — educating future leaders, advancing cutting-edge research, and upholding the principles of freedom and democracy.”
President Kim’s dedication to the principle of open dialogue is embodied by the Open Dialogue Project, which received specific emphasis in the press release. Founding Director of the Open Dialogue Project Neeraj Sood also attributed the rise in ranking to initiatives by President Kim.
“President Kim has been instrumental in both changing USC policies and Culture to promote open dialogue and free speech,” Sood said in a statement to Annenberg Media. “Based on both anecdotes and data collected from student surveys the USC Open Dialogue Project has made students more comfortable expressing their views and have more confidence that USC administration will protect free speech.”
Carsten Barnes, a 2nd year PhD student studying economics, attended the Open Dialogue Project’s Theatre for Dialogue event on Sept. 3. The event consisted of actors playing out scenes of disagreements that could happen at the university, before inviting students on stage to enter the scene and trying to bring about a better outcome.
Barnes entered the event wanting to “make a point” about USC’s ongoing cadaver contract with the US Navy.
After being invited on stage, and trying to rectify the staged disagreement through the idea of shared morals, Barnes raised the issue of the cadaver contract to the actors. While one gave an answer, the moderator then “cut him off” and went to ask the audience questions.
“They just ignored my intervention essentially,” Barnes said about the questions. “They didn’t mention at all the substance of what I was talking about.”
A conversation session was also to be held with a panel of faculty members. Though advertised as a way for USC students and staff to, according to their website “talk honestly about their own challenges in sharing their views and identities on campus,” Barnes said no questions from attendees were allowed.
The only question asked was one “soft-ball question” from the moderator, Barnes said.
“I was interested in whether all of this was scripted or not, so I went up to the moderator afterwards.” The moderator for the conversation session was new, and had not attended the first leg of the event. “He said somebody had told him there was a disruption at the event, and that as a result they would cancel the Q&A session.”
Barnes said it sounded like “the Q&A was expressly deleted because of what I said.”
“I think this for me shows that the ranking is not true,” Barnes said. “Maybe they’re 37th out of a very, very low bar. What I definitely think is true is that the health of free speech on this campus — based on my experiences — is not very good.”
Lauren Yoon, a junior studying communications, said that she feels “very comfortable” with her level of freedom of speech on campus.
“Last year I had no issue speaking up, and I still don’t. I still feel like I have the same amount of freedom to do that,” she said. “I don’t think that I’ve really experienced any censorship on campus before.”
Eric Li, a sophomore studying computer science, felt similarly, and said there’s few places on campus where he’s affected by censorship.
“I’m kind of surprised there’s such a huge change in rankings because I really don’t feel that much difference,” he said.
FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings also include a student survey component. This data was collected beginning January 2, 2026 with a deadline of June 3, 2026. As such, the change in ranking does not reflect student attitudes since the beginning of this academic year.
From the Student Perceptions Rankings listed on their website, the highest ranking is Self-Censorship, ranked 100th out of 261 colleges in the country. The lowest is Administrative Support, ranked at 227. If all the ratings were to be averaged together, USC would rank 164th out of 261 colleges based on student surveys.
Prior to its rise in ranking, USC had an overall grade of F in speech climate grade from FIRE, who cited prior speech policies and controversies regarding the canceled gubernatorial debate and 2024 commencement speeches. Using their website’s provided hypothetical grade calculator, USC’s overall speech climate grade is a “C–.”
“It’ll remain to be seen whether USC’s place continues to climb in next year’s ranking, when those policy changes are accounted for, and we get to see how another year impacts the next student survey results,” Beltz said in a statement to the Annenberg Media. “Efforts like the Open Dialogue Project and other initiatives led by President Kim may certainly be reflected in those surveys.”