Overall Score The Overall Score is made up of 12 parts. Six measure how students feel about free speech on campus. Three look at school speech policies. The last three look at how people on campus respond during speech controversies. A higher score reflects a better free speech climate.
55.0 Treanding Down
/ 100
Overall Rank The Overall Rank shows where a school stands among the 257 institutions evaluated, based on its Overall Score.
189 Treanding Up
/ 257
Overall grade The Grade is a letter based on the college's rounded Overall Score. Scores fall into standard grade ranges from A (93-100) to F (below 60).
F
Speech Controversies Controversies are campus incidents where a student, professor, or speaker faces backlash or pressure for speech that's protected by the First Amendment or academic freedom.
6
Overview
University of California, Los Angeles ranks 189 in the 2026 College Free Speech Rankings with a score of 55 and an F speech climate grade. New penalties from 2025 censorship cases involving a graduate-led public-health course and a student wildfire website kept its score low. The school earns a “green light” Spotlight rating but has yet to adopt the Chicago Statement or a statement on institutional neutrality.UCLA places in the top 50 for “Self-Censorship,” indicating relatively few feel compelled to keep quiet. That lone strength is offset by serious weaknesses: the university ranks in the bottom 25 for both “Comfort Expressing Ideas” and “Administrative Support,” and in the bottom 50 for “Political Tolerance."
UCLA could improve by adopting a free speech statement based on the Chicago Statement and making a commitment to institutional neutrality.
Highlights
39% of students say they have self-censored on campus at least once or twice a month.
79% of students say shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus is acceptable, at least in rare cases.
36% of students say using violence to stop someone from speaking on campus is acceptable, at least in rare cases.
6.83:1
There are roughly 6.83 liberal students for every one conservative student.
Spotlight Rating
Green
Score over time
Student Voices
During the encampments when I was blocked from going to class for being a Jewish student but was too scared to stand up for myself
I could not express my opinions on the Israel/Palestine situation because my university used the police to harass and assault people protesting genocide in Gaza.
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Score Deep Dive
Inside the Score
Explore the key factors shaping this score. This section provides a detailed look at the data, policies, and student experiences that influence free speech on campus.
Overall Score The Overall Score is made up of 12 parts. Six measure how students feel about free speech on campus. Three look at school speech policies. The last three look at how people on campus respond during speech controversies. A higher score reflects a better free speech climate.
55.0 Treanding Down
/ 100
This score out of 100 reflects how open and supportive a campus is for free speech, based on student surveys, campus policies, and recent speech-related controversies.
Overall Rank The Overall Rank shows where a school stands among the 257 institutions evaluated, based on its Overall Score.
189 Treanding Up
/ 257
A comparison of 257 U.S. colleges and universities on free speech, based on overall scores from student surveys, campus policies, and speech-related controversies.
Overall grade The Grade is a letter based on the college's rounded Overall Score. Scores fall into standard grade ranges from A (93-100) to F (below 60).
F
A school’s speech climate, shown as a letter grade (A–F), based on its overall score from student surveys, campus policies, and speech-related controversies.
Speech Controversies Controversies are campus incidents where a student, professor, or speaker faces backlash or pressure for speech that's protected by the First Amendment or academic freedom.
6
Reflect recent incidents where a speaker, professor, student, or student group faced efforts to punish, disinvite, or silence them for expressing a controversial view.
Chicago Statement for Free Speech
Not Adopted
Institutional Neutrality
Not Adopted
Spotlight Rating
Green
Comfort Expressing Ideas Comfort Expressing Ideas measures how comfortable students feel sharing their views on controversial topics in different campus settings. The grade falls into standard grade ranges from A (93-100) to F (below 60).
F
Disruptive Conduct Disruptive Conduct measures how acceptable students think it is to disrupt a campus speaker. The grade falls into standard grade ranges from A (93-100) to F (below 60).
C
Openness Openness measures how many controversial topics students feel they can openly discuss on campus. The grade falls into standard grade ranges from A (93-100) to F (below 60).
C
Self-Censorship Self-Censorship measures how often students hold back their views on campus. The grade falls into standard grade ranges from A (93–100) to F (below 60).
D
Administrative Support Administrative Support measures how clearly students think their school supports free speech and how likely the administration is to defend a speaker's rights during a controversy. The grade falls into standard grade ranges from A (93-100) to F (below 60).
F
Political Tolerance Political Tolerance measures how willing students are to allow controversial speakers — on both the left and right — to speak on campus, even if they disagree with their views. The grade falls into standard grade ranges from A (93-100) to F (below 60).
F
Speech Controversies
Speech Controversies: When Free Expression Is Challenged
Explore notable incidents where free speech was tested on campus. From speaker deplatformings to administrative actions, these events highlight the challenges — and consequences — of restricting expression.
Total Controversies Controversies are campus incidents where a student, professor, or speaker faces backlash or pressure for speech that's protected by the First Amendment or academic freedom.
6
Scholars Under Fire Scholar Controversies are campus incidents where a professor or academic staff member faces backlash or punishment for speech protected by academic freedom or the First Amendment.
2
Students Under Fire Student Controversies are campus incidents where a student or student group faces punishment or pressure from the school for speech that's protected by the First Amendment.
1
Deplatformings Deplatformings are the number of incidents where a scheduled event or speaker is canceled or prevented from taking place.
3
Honor Roll Statements Honor Roll Statements are the number of public messages from a college or university defending free speech during a campus controversy. Schools that make these statements can earn bonus points on their Overall Score for standing up for free expression when it counts.
0
Attempted Disruptions Attempted Disruptions are the number of incidents where people on campus try to stop a scheduled event or speaker.
0
New in 2025 The number of controversies that have occurred since the previous launch of the College Free Speech Rankings.
2
Scholars Under Fire
| Year | School | Target | Controversy Explanation | Score Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | University of California, Los Angeles | Randall Kuhn | Kuhn, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the university, was scheduled to oversee the teaching of a student-led course foucsed on public health issues in Palestine. Although the department's curriculum review committee had unanimously approved the course, the school's Educational Policy and Curriculum Committee later reviewed and subsequently canceled it, citing violations of the university's Academic Senate regulations. Specifically, concerns were raised that only instructors of record are permitted to assign grades and that student instructors must receive salaries. Kuhn and the student instructors contested these reasons, noting that graduate students had previously taught courses on topics such as the 2014 Ferguson protests and immigration policies during President Trump's administration without issue. They argued that the cancellation was inconsistent with past practices and undermined graduate students' teaching opportunities. | -1.0 |
| 2023 | University of California, Los Angeles | Yoel Inbar | Dozens of psych students signed this letter demanding UCLA not hire Dr. Yoel Inbar for, above all, expressing skepticism about DEI statements. | -1.0 |
Students Under Fire
| Year | School | Target | Controversy Explanation | Score Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | University of California, Los Angeles | Kyle Jeong | In a post on X, Jeong shared an alleged email from an administrator accusing him of violating UCLA's trademarks when he created and shared a dashboard tracking the California wildfires under the domain name uclafire.org. Jeong would ultimately change the domain name. | -1.0 |
Deplatformings
| Year | School | Target | Controversy Explanation | Score Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | University of California, Los Angeles | Helena Hansen | Hansen, a psychiatrist an anthropologist who is a a professor and Chair of Translational Social Science at the university known for her work examining the intersections of race, capitalism, and the opioid epidemic, was scheduled to deliver a lecture titled "Beyond Magic Bullets: Whiteness as a Structural Driver of the Opioid Crisis" to the university's Medical School. The talk was also scheduled to be broadcast via Zoom. Two days before the scheduled lecture, the university Medical School announced changes: the lecture's title was altered to "BioSocial Futures: Toward a Symbiotic, Community Ecology of Health." Additionally, UCLA restricted attendance to in-person only, removed the Zoom option, and prohibited any recording—despite the event initially being open to a broader audience. Hansen delivered the lecture to those in attendance. | -2.0 |
| 2024 | University of California, Los Angeles | Robert Spencer | Spencer was invited to campus by the UCLA Young Americans for Freedom chapter to appear at a pro-Israel event. Spencer's appearance was opposed by pro-Palestinian protesters and the university initially told UCLA YAF that its request to host Spencer on campus "would be too dangerous" because he holds views counter to the protesters on campus who had established an encampment to protest Israeli military action in Gaza. The administration later informed the UCLA YAF chairman that "there is no timeframe" for approving the request. UCLA YAF attempted to still hold the event but found the doors of their requested venue, the Bruin Viewpoint Room, locked. After contacting administrators, UCLA YAF toldthat the event could not be held at the requested venue, and needed to be moved to a low-traffic, remote location. Because the relocation of the event "would have significantly impacteed the event's attendance and impact," UCLA YAF say they did not hold the event. The administration disputes YAF's account and insists that the event took place. | -2.0 |
| 2024 | University of California, Los Angeles | Tzipi Livni | The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies invited Livni, an Israeli politician and lawyer, to speak at an event titled "Israel and the Middle East after the October 7 Massacre: Threats, Challenges, and Hopes." Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA organized protests of the event, accusing Livni of being a "war criminal," and Livni's talk was moved online to Zoom due to fears it could be disrupted if held in-person. Livni spoke online successfully. | -2.0 |
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More Student Voices
During class, everyone had a really strong opinion about a certain matter and while I didn't disagree, I had some questions that would require us to dive deeper into the topic. When I started questioning, people started putting me down and saying that I was for sure wrong, albeit I didn't even disagree with them.
Survey Results
Survey Results: Student Perspectives
See how students at University of California, Los Angeles perceive free speech on their campus. This section breaks down survey responses to key questions, providing insights into overall trends as well as demographic differences in how students experience free expression.
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The College Free Speech Rankings are based on student surveys, campus policies, and recent speech-related controversies.
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