Record Year for FIRE’s ‘Guides’ to Student Rights

In a year where FIRE's Campus Freedom Network has more than tripled its membership, it's no wonder that FIRE's other programs have grown to meet the increased demand from students and faculty members intent on defending their rights. For example, in 2008, we distributed 13,912 of FIRE's Guides to Student Rights on Campus, a record number.

Distributing FIRE's Guides to Student Rights on Campus is one of our most long-term and effective programs, offering students and faculty a thorough explanation of their rights to free speech, religious liberty, due process, student fees, and the perils of thought reform. Anyone can download the Guides for free from FIRE's website in .PDF format, but students and faculty members may order free hard copies. The public can order hard copies through Amazon.com.

In addition to distributing more Guides than any previous year on record, students and faculty members have also downloaded the Guides in droves. 13,525 copies of FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus, 2,016 copies of FIRE's Guide to Religious Liberty on Campus, 5,077 copies of FIRE's Guide to Due Process and Fair Procedure on Campus, 2,141 copies of FIRE's Guide to Student Fees, Funding, and Legal Equality on Campus, and 3,226 copies of FIRE's Guide to First-Year Orientation and Thought Reform on Campus have been distributed via our website. In addition to being able to download the whole Guides series, the public can download individual chapters as well. Thousands more did so.

2008 made it clear that those both within and outside the academy are taking the threat to liberty on college campuses seriously and educating themselves on the limits of universities' power to censor.