Foundation For Individual Rights And Expression Inc

Fire litigation: fire strategically litigates in courts nationwide to vindicate first amendment rights. In service of our expanded mission to defend free speech both on and off campus, our litigation program is growing into a premier public-interest law firm for free expression. Fire attorneys review each and every case submission we receive and also proactively seek out legal challenges with the potential to secure lasting legal precedents, major public-policy reform, or clear cultural impact. Since fire began litigating in 2014, fire's litigation program has secured 42 victories and nearly $4 million in damages and fees. (continued on schedule o.)

Research: fire's research team gathers significant data on the nation's climate for free expression so that we can provide concrete evidence of america's free speech crisis and arm advocates with tools they can use to fight censorships. These efforts include our free speech index, a quarterly survey on national attitudes toward free speech, and annual college free speech rankings, the nation's most comprehensive assessment of the campus climate for free expression.

Strategic partnerships: fire's strategic partnerships program initiates, cultivates, and maintains relationships with fire's growing list of allies. Through these efforts, we monitor and maintain opportunities to enhance our work by collaborating with a wide range of partners.

Campus rights advocacy (cra): fire continues to place a special emphasis on defending the individual rights of students and faculty members on campus, and our cra program leads these efforts. Our expert staff reviews every case submission and takes action by intervening directly with administrators; using freedom of information act (foia) requests or threats to schools' accreditation; applying public pressure to schools to reverse rights violations; and working with students and faculty with other means of creative advocacy. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, fire's cra team secured 82 victories.

Legislative and policy: fire's legislative and policy team works at the state and federal levels to advocate on behalf of free speech-friendly legislation and against proposed laws that would restrict speech. The team proposes model legislation, testifies before state and federal bodies, meets with policymakers to provide legislative analysis, and issues public commentary. In the fiscal year 2024-25, they secured 20 legislative victories in 11 states, shoring up campus due process rights, defeating restrictions on online expression, and more.

Public advocacy: fire's public advocacy department engages in non-litigation advocacy to defend and promote expressive rights and a strong culture of free expression. Our expert staff reviews every case submission and takes action by intervening directly with government officials, while engaging in creative advocacy such as email-writing campaigns and petitions that apply public pressure to bad actors to reverse rights violations. In the fiscal year 2024-25, the public advocacy team secured 17 victories.

Engagement & mobilization: fire's engagement and mobilization team is rapidly becoming the "home base" for america's free speech constituency, giving them the community, the knowledge, and the resources needed to promote a culture of freeexpression.

Policy reform project: our policy reform team proactively and systematically documents and exposes campus policies that violate college students' free speech rights. The centerpiece of their work is maintaining fire's spotlight database, which catalogs restrictions on free speech on over 475 campuses nationwide. The team also works to reform policies by writing letters, meeting with administrators, coordinating with campus constituents such as alumni or faculty, and providing policy recommendations. In the fiscal year 2024-25, the policy reform team reformed 43 policies on 29 campuses, impacting over 630,000 students.

Faculty outreach: the fire faculty network conducts outreach to college and university faculty, connecting them with a network that will give them the knowledge and resources needed to promote academic freedom on their campuses.

Fire student development: fire's student development programs educate and empower high school, college, and law students to defend free speech through student conferences, internships, and legal fellowships. These programs are also helping fire build the next generation of talented free speech leaders, many of whom go on to work with us. In the fiscal year 2024-2025, fire hosted 30 interns and 13 legal fellows and clerks.