The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has released the second annual list of America's Best Colleges for Free Speech, and Mississippi State holds the No. 4 spot.
FIRE's top seven list is populated by colleges that (1) have earned a "green light" from FIRE, meaning that their policies as written do not pose a serious threat to free speech on campus; and (2) to FIRE's knowledge, have not committed a serious incident of censorship in the past several years. FIRE attorneys rate nearly 400 colleges nationwide annually, ranking them as "red," "yellow," or "green" light schools on the basis of their written policies' impact on student speech, not specific allegations of censorship.
Other SEC institutions on the top seven list are the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Mississippi State earned its "green light" rating from FIRE earlier this year.