How do Florida's universities rank for free speech. Some do great, survey says. Some poorly.

Florida State University is one of the best colleges for free speech, according to a national free speech organization's just-released report.

Of around 250 schools surveyed, FSU ranked fifth.

Those surveys were done by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, along with College Pulse, an online survey research and analytics company.

"When there's been attempts to sanction some form of expression on campus, Florida State has, more often than not, defended speakers' rights, whether it's a student, faculty member or invited speaker," said Sean Stevens, FIRE's director of polling and analytics.

"Schools that have very publicly and staunchly come out in support of freedom of speech and saying they will defend speech rights on their campus... [will] always do fairly well on the administrative support component," Stevens said. "I think students notice."

FSU President Richard McCullough said in a statement that the school "deeply values intellectual debate and fosters a culture where students and faculty can engage in robust civil discourse as they pursue their academic goals."

“We are pleased FIRE continues to recognize FSU as one of the nation’s top colleges and best in Florida for free expression," McCullough said.

Other state schools didn't fare nearly as well.

The University of Florida got put at No. 231, which was not far ahead of the No. 235 University of Central Florida.

Cynthia Roldán, UF's director of strategic communications, responding to a media request, wrote, "Thank you for providing us with the opportunity to comment, but we have nothing to add." UCF spokespeople did not respond.

According to a piece Stevens published earlier this year, UF and UCF have "sanctioned scholars at the highest rates of any college or university where 7 or more sanctions occurred since 2000."

Sanctions can include everything from written complaints to suspensions or even terminations.

"We find it particularly concerning that 9 in 10 sanction attempts at the University of Florida occurred since 2020, with eight of those nine resulting in some form of sanction," FIRE researchers wrote in a "Scholars Under Fire" report analyzing colleges between 2000 and 2022. "Additionally, seven of these sanction attempts since 2020 were initiated from the right, and six of them were initiated by a politician. None of these scholars were defended by the University of Florida."

Stevens says this puts on display what he believes is UF's fear of the state government's "wrath." Most of the incidents listed in the "Scholars Under Fire" database involve UF forbidding faculty from getting involving in litigation against policies pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-run Legislature.

Most of the chronicled UCF incidents came from a "left" political motivation. The researchers said the school had the second-highest number of successful sanctions.

Opposition to DeSantis' college DEI ban: Critics warn DeSantis is hurting Florida universities with push to the political right

DeSantis and New College: New College: What students had to say on the first day of classes

This all comes at a time when DeSantis and his lawmaker allies have taken repeated jabs at higher education.

They passed the "Stop Woke Act" last year, but a federal judge has blocked much of the law, including a provision that limits on discussion of race, gender and other topics in university classrooms.

The block didn't discourage them from passing a law this year banning college diversity, equity and inclusion programs and targeting professor's tenure.

Meanwhile, the University of South Florida earned 12th and Florida International University got 46th.

Stevens said there's any easy way for schools to improve their scores: revise their speech policies.

"Don't do that quietly," he said. "Make that public, explain why you're doing it. And when controversies do arise, because inevitably they probably will, don't give in to the demand of the mob to sanction someone, and defend that speaker's rights."

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com. Twitter: @DouglasSoule.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU a top free speech school, survey says. UF, UCF rank toward the bottom