In the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings, conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse, MIT was ranked 164th of 251 institutions surveyed, with an overall speech climate rated "slightly below average." This marks a decline in overall ranking from MIT's performance in the 2024 rankings, in which it finished 136th of 248 institutions.
Additional analysis and commentary from MFSA about MIT's performance in the latest rankings is forthcoming. In the meantime, you can review MIT's performance in the individual metrics at this page. A complete explanation of the rankings' methodology can be found here.
Additional reading:
| College | Rating (0-100) | Ranking (of 251) | Quartile |
| Michigan Technical University | 73.15 | 2 | 1 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | 69.39 | 5 | 1 |
| Colorado School of Mines | 59.90 | 26 | 1 |
| Purdue University | 58.42 | 30 | 1 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 55.56 | 41 | 1 |
| Worcester Polytechnic University | 54.55 | 46 | 1 |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology | 50.34 | 94 | 2 |
| California Institute of Technology | 48.81 | 111 | 2 |
| Virginia Tech University | 48.50 | 116 | 2 |
| California Polytechnic State University | 48.17 | 120 | 2 |
| Illinois Institute of Technology | 47.30 | 128 | 3 |
| Stevens Institute of Technology | 46.78 | 135 | 3 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 43.32 | 164 | 3 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 42.50 | 173 | 4 |
| College | Rating (0-100) | Ranking (of 251) | Quartile |
| Duke University | 59.72 | 27 | 1 |
| University of Chicago | 55.20 | 43 | 1 |
| Yale University | 44.04 | 155 | 3 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 43.32 | 164 | 3 |
| Cornell University | 36.49 | 215 | 4 |
| Stanford University | 35.49 | 218 | 4 |
| Princeton University | 34.49 | 223 | 4 |
| Dartmouth College | 34.37 | 224 | 4 |
| Brown University | 33.13 | 229 | 4 |
| University of Pennsylvania | 12.50 | 248 | 4 |
| Columbia University | 0.00 | 250 | 4 |
| Harvard University | 0.00 | 251 | 4 |