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Thirty percent of college students nationwide believe using violence is an acceptable way to stop a controversial speaker at a campus event, according to a new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
Specifically, 3% said it was always acceptable, 12% said it was sometimes acceptable and 16% said it was rarely acceptable to use violence as a means of prohibiting a speaker from appearing on a college campus, according to FIRE’s survey.
The data comes a year after Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a college event held by his organization, Turning Point USA, on Sept. 10, 2025, while Kirk was engaging in debate with students.
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Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point Action, speaks during a meeting on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson Oct. 17, 2024. (Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images)
FIRE noted in its findings that the percentage has declined from last year. In 2025, 34% of students believed using violence as a protest action was acceptable.
However, this year’s findings are up 10 points from four years ago, according to FIRE.
Seventy percent of students nationwide said in this year’s findings that using violence was never acceptable to oppose a speaker.
Similarly, 69% of students nationwide believe shouting down a speaker is acceptable, which is down three points from last year. However, the 2026 findings are still up seven points from four years ago.
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The FIRE survey found a broad majority of college students, 69%, believe shouting down a speaker on campus that they disagree with is acceptable. (Middle East Images/AFP via Getty)
FIRE Data Analyst Chapin Lenthall-Cleary told Digital in a statement, “We’re pleased that the percentage of students who find it acceptable to answer speech with violence has decreased. But so long as students and outside speakers believe that voicing disagreement or sharing controversial views could get them hurt, speech will remain chilled on campuses.”
Lenthall-Cleary said FIRE wasn’t sure what caused a decline in this year’s results with regard to acceptable responses to speakers on campus.
“It’s possible that students who once believed violence was an acceptable way to stop a campus speech changed their minds after witnessing Charlie Kirk get brutally assassinated for speaking his mind on a campus,” he added.
“Back in the early 2020s, when we started doing the rankings, liberal students were about twice as accepting of violence as conservative students. Since then, there’s been a dramatic rise in acceptance of violence among conservative and moderate students, especially male students.
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Flowers, signs and other public messages of support after Charlie Kirk’s death in September 2025. Kirk, 31, was fatally shot while speaking to thousands of people at Utah Valley University. (Getty Images)
“Now, liberal and conservative students are roughly equally accepting of violence. Mercifully, overall support for violence declined slightly this year, but over 30% of students still say it’s at least rarely acceptable to use violence to stop a speaker.”
Kirk was assassinated on the campus of Utah Valley University’s campus.
FIRE’s survey found that the assassination had a lasting effect, both negative and positive, on free speech on UVU’s campus.
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First responders work where political activist Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (George Frey)
The organization’s rankings also include a comprehensive list of where colleges rank with regard to free speech and expression.
FIRE’s findings are based on surveys of 62,997 undergraduate students enrolled in four-year degree programs at 262 colleges and universities.
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A sign at the University of Chicago’s campus. (iStock)
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According to the 2027 College Free Speech Rankings report, the top five schools for free speech are the University of Chicago, Claremont McKenna College, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Michigan Technological University and Vanderbilt University.
