ASU announces creation of Center for Free Speech, with annual forum starting in 2025

PHOENIX — Arizona State University is creating a Center for Free Speech that will host an annual forum starting next year, the Tempe-based school announced Wednesday.

“Universities have an important role to play in free speech, and ASU has a responsibility to lead in bringing people together around this shared value,” ASU President Michael Crow said in a press release. “We intend to help advance the collective understanding about what freedom of speech means within the context of a democratic society.”

The ASU Free Speech Forum will be the Center for Free Speech’s signature initiative.

The first yearly forum will be held next spring. It will include national speakers in an effort to engage students, faculty and the broader community on issues of free speech.

Who is behind ASU Center for Free Speech?

The Center for Free Speech and the annual forum are made possible thanks to a gift from Don Budinger, a founder of the nonprofit Rodel Foundation and an ASU trustee.

“It doesn’t matter where you fall socioeconomically or politically, the right to freedom of expression is essential to your conduct as citizens living in a democracy,” Budinger said in the release. “No matter who you are or where you come from, your moment will come. And it is in those moments where we discover that the right to express ourselves freely is something we share as Americans, and we are obligated to defend it, whether or not we agree with what is being said.”

ASU ranks high nationally for free speech

ASU was No. 14, tops in the state, in the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). ASU received three bonuses for defending student expression in the national rankings, which were released last month.

ASU and the University of Arizona, which was No. 25 on the list, each received a “green light,” the highest level, in the FIRE Speech Code Rating System.

“Protection and preservation of freedom of speech in a public university environment, while important, is not enough,” Crow said. “We need greater understanding of the balance of equal rights within a community, a balance that seeks active discourse and the fearless inclusion of voices — all voices — through interactions that challenge beliefs and opens eyes to new perspectives.”

Pro-Palestine protests spark free speech conflicts

College campuses became a hotspot for free speech conflicts earlier this year due to a wave of sometimes disruptive pro-Palestine protests.

Seventy-two trespassing arrests were made during an April 26 protest on ASU’s Tempe campus.

“You can’t disrupt the function of the university and you can’t build structures on the campus of the university, because that’s disruptive to the institutions,” Crow told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show in May.

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