Let’s go over some background about the data and some of the report’s key findings.
Fielding
- The rankings survey was fielded from January 13 to May 31, 2022.
- Data comes from a total of 44,847 full-time undergraduates enrolled in four-year degree programs at 208 different colleges and universities.
- Sample was drawn from College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.
Who was surveyed?
- 18,922 males, 24,512 females, and 1,355 people who identified as nonbinary or something else.
- 6,575 Black or African American students, 7,163 Hispanic/Latino students, 3,655 Asian students, and 24,893 White students. It also included 1,221 multiracial students and 1,230 students who identified as American Indian, Middle Eastern, Native Hawaiian, or something else.
- 32,750 heterosexuals, 2,134 gays or lesbians, 5,116 bisexuals, and 4,724 students who identified as pansexual, queer, fluid, asexual or aromantic, unsure, questioning, other, or something else.
- 23,814 liberal students, 6,265 moderate (or middle-of-the-road) students, 8,713 conservative students, 1,085 democratic socialist students, 817 libertarian students, and 4,155 students who said something else or that they hadn’t thought much about their political views.
Scoring
- The rankings are based on a composite score of multiple subcomponents:
- Comfort Expressing Ideas
- Tolerance for Controversial Speakers
- Disruptive Conduct
- Administrative Support
- Openness
- Scholars Supported (2019 to present)
- Scholars Sanctions (2019 to present)
- Successful Disinvitations (2019 to present)
- Spotlight Rating
Key Findings
- The University of Chicago was the top-ranked school, Claremont McKenna – the top-ranked liberal arts college – was ranked 6th overall, while Columbia University was ranked last.
- 64% of students say they are worried about damaging their reputation because of someone misunderstanding what they have said or done and 21% say they censor themselves often.
- Almost half of students (48%) identified abortion as a difficult topic to discuss on their campuses, the highest of any topic surveyed.
- Fewer than one-third of students (32%) say that their college administration makes it very or extremely clear that they protect free speech on campus and just under one-in-four (24%) say it is very or extremely likely that their administration would defend a speaker’s rights during a campus controversy.