Public universities ranked low in FIRE reports adopt neutral winter holiday language

Several public universities that appear near the lower end of the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings have released updated holiday schedules for the 2025–2026 academic year that use broader or more neutral winter terminology. 

The schedules coincide with FIRE’s findings that students on these campuses report higher levels of self-censorship and lower confidence in administrative support for free expression.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) published its 2025–2026 Campus Holiday Schedule earlier this year, listing Dec. 25 as “Christmas Day Holiday” but surrounding it with university-designated “Gift Day” dates on Dec. 24, Dec. 30, and Dec. 31. 

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The institution also designates Dec. 26 as a “Designated Holiday,” concluding a five-day period that the university describes without specific religious language. 

At the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), the institution lists its December–January closure period as “Winter Break” on its human resources website. The break includes Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and additional staff holidays granted under the university’s employment calendar. UT Austin publishes its holiday and closure information here. 

Unlike UIUC, UT Austin’s public holiday documentation does not include “Gift Days,” but similarly places its December closure under a general “Winter Break” heading rather than holiday-specific language.

FIRE’s 2025 rankings, released in September and available here, placed both universities in the lower tier nationally for free-speech climate. FIRE evaluates institutions on several components, including student comfort expressing controversial viewpoints, administrative clarity on speech policies, and perceptions of whether faculty and staff treat dissenting perspectives fairly.

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The rankings show that students at lower-rated campuses are significantly more likely to report self-censorship, with conservative and religious students expressing the greatest hesitation about sharing their views in class or with peers.

UIUC and UT Austin each received below-average marks in student confidence that administrators would defend protected expression. FIRE notes that uncertainty about administrative support can contribute to a campus environment where students refrain from discussing topics related to politics, religion, public policy, or current events.

Campus Reform contacted UIUC Human Resources Director Jennifer Do and UT Austin’s media relations office. This article will be updated accordingly.

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