FIRE is here to defend the individual rights of all Americans to think and live freely. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience — the most essential qualities of liberty. Before FIRE's expansion to defend free expression for all Americans, we spent two decades building a successful track record defending the rights of students and faculty members on our nation's college campuses.
FIRE’s proven approach to advocacy has vindicated the rights of thousands of Americans through targeted media campaigns, correspondence with officials, open records requests, litigation, and other creative advocacy tactics.
If you think your rights have been violated, contact FIRE today.
FIRE’s advocates are here to help when your free speech rights are violated.
FIRE has helped hundreds of college and university students and faculty when their rights were threatened. Learn more about our groundbreaking advocacy work in higher education and our expansion beyond campus.
Are you a college student or faculty member being punished or investigated for something you said? Are you a student whose group has been denied recognition or defunded? Is your student publication being threatened? Are you facing non-renewal or loss of tenure because of your views? FIRE’s Campus Rights Advocacy team may be able to help.
Joining our student newspaper gave me a voice, and unfortunately it’s going to take a lawsuit for the university to listen to it.
The president of Haskell Indian Nations University issued an unconstitutional directive to student journalist Jared Nally, editor-in-chief of the award-winning student newspaper, The Indian Leader, that formally forbade Jared from engaging in protected journalistic activities. The president also directed Jared to start showing university administrators the “highest respect” — or else!
FIRE helps people whose expressive rights have been violated — and those violations take a lot of forms. If you think your rights have been violated, tell us about it. Our team will review your case to see how we can help. It’s totally confidential and there’s never a cost to you.
We review hundreds of potential rights violations each year and seek justice for those we help. How? By using our authority and reputation to directly demand that those in power respect the Constitution or uphold their own stated commitments to civil liberties.
Concerned that your rights may be at risk? If you are in trouble for something you said, contact FIRE confidentially.
For faculty at public colleges and universities, call FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund Hotline: 254-500-FLDF (3533).
If you’re a college journalist facing censorship or a media law question, call the Student Press Freedom Initiative 24-hour hotline at 717-734-SPFI (7734).
Student Defenders know their college’s policies, and they know what your rights are.
If you are a student who is accused of violating your school’s code of conduct, you may feel lost, anxious, and scared about your future. Student Defenders can help. Student Defenders are fellow students trained as conduct advisors who can help ensure students accused of misconduct are treated fairly.
FIRE’s 2022 College Free Speech Rankings are based on the voices of more than 44,000 currently enrolled students at 208 colleges and are designed to help parents and prospective students choose the right school.
I never dreamed I would teach at a college where I would be ordered to not share facts, particularly life-saving ones, with my students.
FIRE sued Collin College for firing “Educator of the Year” and historian Michael Phillips after he criticized the college’s COVID-19 policies.
Learn more about how FIRE advocates for your rights.
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