"[3] New York magazine has reported that the label may result from FIRE’s historic defense of conservative and heterodox professors and students on college campuses where progressives dominate.
"[20] Josh Gerstein wrote in Politico that "part of the push may challenge the American Civil Liberties Union's primacy as a defender of free speech."
Politico also wrote that FIRE would spend $10 million on "planned national cable and billboard advertising featuring activists on both ends of the political spectrum extolling the virtues of free speech.
[21] The event featured keynote remarks by rapper Killer Mike, who told the audience, "Right now, in this country, your freedom of speech is at risk.
[13] When asked about his role at the organization in a January 2025 interview, Creeley said, "I look at the job as being an honest broker, kind of like being an ambulance driver in the culture wars.
[47] In his book Speech Out of Doors: Preserving First Amendment Liberties in Public Places (Cambridge University Press, 2008), law professor Timothy Zick wrote "in large part due to [FIRE's] litigation and other advocacy efforts, campus expressive zoning policies have been highlighted, altered, and in a number of cases repealed.
"[54] FIRE chief counsel Robert Corn-Revere called a federal judge's 2023 order blocking the government from pressuring social media companies to censor "a win for the First Amendment.
[58][59] In March 2009, FIRE challenged a security fee charged to a UC Berkeley group for a speech by Elan Journo, who advocates for the destruction of Palestine.
[61] In April 2022, FIRE challenged a security fee charged to Dartmouth College's Republican group for hosting a speech by Andy Ngo.
[62] FIRE also targets situations where students and faculty are adjudicated outside the bounds of due process afforded to them by Constitutional law or stated university policy.
[68][67][69] In 2020, FIRE supported new rules made by the Department of Education during the Trump administration about sexual assault and harassment cases that required colleges to allow the cross-examination of accusers.
[70] FIRE opposes some diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts on college campuses that it says infringe on the free speech and academic freedom rights of students and faculty members.
[71] For example, FIRE objects to mandatory "diversity statements" that require faculty to explain their commitment to DEI as part of the hiring and evaluation process.
Later that year, FIRE filed a lawsuit against the California Community Colleges system, which the organization says forces professors to promote politicized DEI concepts.
[82] Although private schools are not bound by the First Amendment, FIRE has said contractual promises they make related to free speech or academic freedom should be upheld.
[83] FIRE has pushed for colleges and universities to enact "institutional neutrality" policies, which call for administrators to refrain from speaking on contentious political and social issues.
[84] In February 2024, FIRE, Heterodox Academy, and the Academic Freedom Alliance released a joint open letter calling for institutional neutrality.
[85] He said, "[The] most chilling threat that the government poses in the context of emerging AI is regulatory overreach that limits its potential as a tool for contributing to human knowledge.
"[106] In September 2022, FIRE announced a lawsuit challenging Florida's Stop WOKE Act, arguing that the bill unconstitutionally suppresses certain discussions of race and sex on college campuses.
[109][110] New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait wrote that, while FIRE "has stood up against speech restriction from both the right and the left," it was notable that "the most effective opponent of left-wing political correctness" had led the effort against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' "signature campus law.
[116] The criticism led to the resignation of Charlene Allen, Columbia's program coordinator for the Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Education, whose policies were at the center of the controversy.
[118] In 2015, FIRE defended Erika Christakis, associate master of Yale University's Silliman College, after she questioned the school's Intercultural Affairs Council for highlighting the cultural implications of Halloween costumes.
[119][120] In 2021, FIRE advocated on behalf of Stanford University student Nicholas Wallace, who satirized the Federalist Society and Republican political figures in an email to his peers.
[124] The ad campaign came in response to Emerson investigating and suspending the campus chapter of Turning Point USA, which distributed stickers featuring a hammer and sickle with the caption "China Kinda Sus" (slang for "suspicious").
[127] FIRE objected to Hamline University's 2022 decision to punish adjunct professor Erika López Prater after she showed students in her art history course a painting of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
"[139] In 2024, FIRE represented an Arizona mother who was arrested at a city council meeting for criticizing a public official, with Maricopa County Judge Gerald Williams ultimately throwing out the charges.
[143][144][145] FIRE partnered with Korchula Productions and the DKT Liberty Project to produce Can We Take a Joke?, a documentary released in 2016 about comedy and speech.