FIRE's 2026 Free Speech Rankings: Claremont McKenna Secures Top Spot, Pomona Falls Among Nation’s Worst

CMC's Bauer Forum. Photo Credit: CMC Media Team

Claremont McKenna College claimed first place in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2026 Free Speech Rankings on Tuesday, while Pomona College clocked in at 247th of 257 colleges. The other Claremont Colleges’ placements spanned between the two, with all but CMC earning an “F” grade.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a premier First Amendment watchdog group, analyzed the climates of public and private colleges nationwide. 

FIRE’s ranking is based upon their speech code ratings of “Red,” “Yellow,” and “Green” for each school’s policies, indicating the degree to which each policy promotes expression through clarity, content neutrality, and other measures. Survey data is also obtained in partnership with College Pulse — a community-based survey platform — to accompany the speech code ratings in the ranking process. For the 2026 report, 68,000 students were surveyed from January 3 through June 5, 2025.

Here’s how the Claremont Colleges fared: 

#1: Claremont McKenna College

Speech Code Rating: Green Light

Overall Score: 79.9 (B-)

125 students surveyed

#193: Harvey Mudd College

Speech Code Rating: Yellow Light

Overall Score: 54.6 (F)

95 students surveyed

#209: Scripps College

Speech Code Rating: Yellow Light

Overall Score: 53.4 (F)

133 students surveyed

#218: Pitzer College

Speech Code Rating: Yellow Light

Overall Score: 52.1 (F)

155 students surveyed

#247: Pomona College

Speech Code Rating: Yellow Light

Overall Score: 49.1 (F)

144 students surveyed

CMC’s grade of 79.86 is the highest score of any of the colleges rated by FIRE. “This, combined with their performance on most of the survey components, deserves recognition,” says the report. Additionally, CMC’s “Administrative Support” score came in second nationwide, with a majority of CMC students agreeing that their administration places a high emphasis on protecting expression. 

CMC has not placed first since FIRE’s 2021 ranking. After landing 73rd in the 2024 report following accusations of professors’ classroom speech being punished, CMC climbed to sixth place in the 2025 ranking. 

According to FIRE’s featured section on CMC, the college now ranks in the top ten in self-survey components for “Comfort Expressing Ideas,” “Openness,” and “Self-Censorship,” among others. However, CMC’s score only rounds up to a “B-” letter grade. 

166 of the 257 schools surveyed received an “F” for their speech climate, and only 11 schools received a speech climate grade of “C” or higher. This year’s findings also noted that, nationally, 71% of students believe that it is acceptable to shout down a speaker and 53% believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is too sensitive for open discussion.  

FIRE’s researchers reminded their audience that “topping an underwhelming list isn’t exactly an overwhelming achievement” and suggested that CMC improve from 39th place on the “Disruptive Conduct” score—a metric determined by examining students’ opinions about the acceptability of protest strategies like shouting down a speaker, blocking entry, or using violence. 

Pomona dropped from its highest position of 242nd place in the 2025 report to 247th in 2026. The campus is now ranked as the eleventh worst speech climate in the nation, with 41% of Pomona students surveyed agreeing that “using violence to stop someone from speaking on campus is acceptable, at least in rare cases.” Pomona also received an “F” grade in the categories of “Political Tolerance” and “Administrative Support.”

On the policy front, CMC earns a Green Light, particularly for its adoption of the Chicago Principles and commitment to institutional neutrality as far back as 2018. These are stances that the other Claremont Colleges have not yet taken. 

All of the colleges’ individual policies must align with the consortium-wide rules, such as the “Claremont Colleges Policy on Demonstrations” (which receives FIRE’s Green Light) and the “Policy on Title IX Sexual Harassment” (perhaps mistakenly listed as both a Yellow Light and Green Light). 

However, each school’s individual specifications and addendums to consortium policies may have led to the stark disparities; for instance, Scripps’s “Principles of Community” and Mudd’s “Student Rights & Responsibilities” receive a Green Light for affirming free expression while the “Pomona College Speech Code” receives a Yellow Light. 

There may also be significant oversights in FIRE’s 5C rankings. For instance, Scripps is said to have experienced “0 controversies” in 2025, which neglects prolonged debate and controversy over the Motley’s closure in October 2024. Pomona is also said to have had “0 controversies,” despite the occupation of Carnegie Hall, also in October 2024. These incidents, if considered, could have dropped the colleges’ points in FIRE’s subcriteria.  

Moreover, CMC is said to have “deplatformed” commencement speaker Salman Rushdie as its singular controversy, when the motivation behind Rushdie’s withdrawal remains unknown. These discrepancies may suggest that FIRE strongly weighs subjective student experience, or at the very least, receives much of its information from the FIRE-College Pulse surveys. 

Despite criticisms of FIRE’s methodology, the organization’s broad reach and coverage have been celebrated for providing insights upon which to build better speech climates at American colleges.

This article was published in conjunction with The Forum.