About

Since 2017, the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University has served as an independent, nonpartisan initiative working to assess the condition of Free Speech in the United States today — in education, civil society, and government. Through its flagship enterprise, the Free Speech Tracker, the project has worked to examine Free Speech on a national scale, documenting incidents in which First Amendment values have been challenged or compromised. By assembling and analyzing instances in which expression was suppressed, the project hopes to understand broader national trends around Free Speech today. 

Drawing on this analysis, the project has also put forward curriculum materials, allowing educators anywhere to harness the project’s findings to spark classroom discussions about the current condition of Free Speech and the implementation of time-honored principles in complicated legal, political, and cultural times.  

Additionally, the project hosts forums focusing on particular topics in Free Speech — from the intersection of speech and national security to the Free Speech rights of incarcerated people — in an effort to bring the conversation to Georgetown’s campus and a large online audience as well.

To learn about the findings of the Free Speech Project, check out this March 2018 report about Free Speech on college campuses and this February 2019 report about censorship in high schools.  

The Free Speech Project is a student- and faculty-run initiative. The content presented on the website and the Free Speech Tracker does not represent the views or official position of Georgetown University.