What You Might Have Missed in That New Survey of College Presidents
Presidents are taking a close look at campus free expression policies.
If one thing is clear, it’s that higher ed has been in the public spotlight this past year, from campus protests erupting across the nation last spring to the current disruption across the sector at the hands of the Trump administration. The result? College presidents are reexamining their campus free expression policies.
How do we know? Inside Higher Ed released the findings of their 2025 Survey of College Presidents this week, gathering insights from 298 college presidents across two- and four-year institutions, public and private, in December 2024 through January 3, 2025. Some findings not making the headlines have to do with campus speech and, notably, the wave of policy changes occurring on campuses across the country.
The first finding of note is that 45% of presidents say their institutions have updated their campus speech policies within the last 18 months, with presidents at public institutions (52%) being more likely than those at private nonprofits (37%) to report this. Of course these data don’t specify the type of policy changes, but many probably have to do with specifying “time, place, and manner” policies for campus protest to protect academic operations while members of the campus community exercise their free speech rights. Nor does the survey give us insight into whether the policy changes are actually improvements.
The second finding of note concerns a more specific policy change: institutional statement neutrality, which has gained significant traction in 2024. According to the IHE survey, 29% of presidents indicate that their institutions have policies on institutional neutrality.
This policy issue has been one of significant focus for Heterodox Academy (HxA). Last February, HxA joined the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) in calling on institutions to adopt statement neutrality to ensure individual members of campus communities feel comfortable expressing their views freely without campus leaders predetermining the “correct” viewpoint on contentious issues. Prior to our joint call, only 24 institutions appeared to have a policy on statement neutrality. Today, that number is 151. (The list on HxA’s website is the most comprehensive available.) More on this soon from our research team.
Of the presidents who say their institutions do not have a policy on statement neutrality, only 11% indicate they are considering one, with 79% of them saying they are not considering one, according to IHE’s survey.
That’s troubling. Notably, a majority of key campus stakeholders – students and faculty – have said that institutions should refrain from making statements on hot public issues. IHE's student voice poll from November of last year shows that 54% of students supported institutional statement neutrality, while 66% of faculty supported such a policy according to FIRE’s 2024 faculty survey.
Another yellow flag in the new IHE data is that presidents appear to view the climate of inquiry and expression on their own campuses through rose colored glasses: 85% of presidents say the climate of open inquiry is good or excellent at their college or university while just 39% say that of colleges and universities in general. (This is also a modest increase from last year when the numbers came in at 82% and 30%, respectively).
What can you do to keep this wave of positive change going? Get involved! If you work in any capacity at a college or university, or are enrolled in graduate studies, become an HxA member. Find others on your campus – there are over 7,600 of us! – and start organizing to champion change. Our campus communities are working hard to bring statement neutrality, tolerance of diverse viewpoints, and other positive changes to campuses across the nation. Join us.