Freedom of assembly is the right of individuals to come together to express shared ideas, and it is one of the rights expressly guaranteed by the First Amendment. This includes the right to peaceably protest and to gather, and it also extends to the right to associate — essential guarantees for ideas to flow freely.
These freedoms have allowed students to organize to express popular and unpopular ideas alike, and have enabled the development of on-campus protest movements, like the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, through which students and the public come together in support of various political and religious causes.
WATCH VIDEO: Explain it like I’m five: Freedom of Assembly
The First Amendment prohibits the government from abridging “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This basic freedom ensures that individuals can gather together to advocate for causes, beliefs, movements, or protests.
Learn more about your free assembly rights in FIRE's research library.
Planning on engaging in activism on campus? Check out the following tips before gearing up.
If you are facing retaliation over protesting or demonstrating at your college, reach out to ݮƵAPP and learn more about how we can protect your rights.
Planning a campus protest — or already part of one? To help get to know your rights, here are some answers to questions we’ve seen come up time and again in over a decade and a half of defending students’ right to free speech and free assembly.
FIRE defends the rights of students and faculty through several core services.
FIRE’s core defense program provides free assistance to individual students, professors, student media, and campus groups whose fundamental civil liberties are violated.
FIRE’s college Policy Reform team works to proactively and systematically challenge campus policies that violate students’ and faculty members’ free speech and due process rights.
Facing a university investigation? Have officials refused to share evidence or follow fair procedures? ݮƵAPP’s lawyers may be able to help.
FIRE advocates for individual rights at both the state and federal level by advocating on behalf of rights-protective legislation and against proposed laws that threaten student and faculty due process rights.
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