What's happening
This bill guarantees free speech rights for noncommercial expressive activities on New York college campuses, establishes outdoor areas as public forums, and provides legal remedies for violations.
Why it matters
Strengthens free speech protections. The bill would create clear legal guarantees for all forms of peaceful, noncommercial expressive activity (such as protests, distributing literature, and carrying signs), which is significant for students and faculty who want to engage in activism or advocacy without fear of arbitrary college restrictions.
Limits administrative overreach. By requiring that any restrictions on expressive activity must be "narrowly tailored," content- and viewpoint-neutral, and allow for spontaneous assembly, the bill aims to prevent colleges from using vague or overly broad policies to suppress speech they find controversial or inconvenient.
Establishes accountability and legal recourse. The bill creates specific legal remedies, including the right for individuals to sue for damages and attorneys’ fees if their expressive rights are violated. This shifts the balance of power, allowing students and others to challenge campus policies or actions in court, with a financial incentive for institutions to comply.
Defines campus outdoor areas as public forums. By designating outdoor campus spaces as traditional public forums, the bill ensures that these areas are open to expressive activity in the same way as public parks or sidewalks, making it harder for colleges to confine speech to isolated "free speech zones" or require burdensome permits.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Protect Campus Free Speech
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 40
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to higher education
- Print number 6126a
- Amend and recommit to higher education
- Referred to higher education
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Protect Campus Free Speech
In Assembly Committee · Higher Education · Sponsor Amy Paulin
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6126--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 11, 2017
Introduced by Sen. MURPHY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education -committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the right to use campus for free speech activities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 6438-a to read as follows:
§ 6438-a. Right to use campus for free speech activities. 1. Expressive activities protected under the provisions of this section include, but are not limited to, all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating petitions.
2. The outdoor areas of college campuses covered by this article shall be deemed traditional public forums. A college may maintain and enforce reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions that are narrowly tailored and in service of a significant institutional interest only when such restrictions employ clear, published, content and viewpointneutral criteria and provide for ample alternative means of expression. Any such restrictions must allow for members of the university community to spontaneously and contemporaneously distribute literature and assemble.
3. Any person who wishes to engage in noncommercial expressive activity on campus shall be permitted to do so freely, as long as their conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the institution, subject to the requirements of subdivision two of this section. Nothing in this section grants any person the right to materially disrupt previously scheduled or reserved activities in a portion or section of the campus at that scheduled time.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08624-04-7
S. 6126--A 2
4. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as limiting the right of student expression elsewhere on campus.
5. a. The attorney general may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin a violation of this section.
b. Persons whose expressive rights were violated through the violation of this section may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin a violation of this section and to recover compensatory damages, reasonable court costs, and attorneys' fees. In an action brought pursuant to this paragraph, if the court finds a violation of this section, the court shall award an aggrieved person damages of no less than five hundred dollars for the initial violation, plus fifty dollars for each day the violation remains ongoing, which shall accrue starting on the day after the complaint is served on the institution of higher education. The total damages, excluding court costs and attorney's fees, available to a plaintiff or set of plaintiffs, in a case or cases stemming from a single controversy shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars in total. In violations harming multiple plaintiffs, the court shall divide the damages equally among them until the maximum award is exhausted, if applicable.
c. A violation of this section is established by demonstrating that an institution subject to this section maintains a policy that does not conform with the requirement herein or by demonstrating that an institution, by an action of one of its agents or by the enforcement of a policy, violated the free speech rights guaranteed under this section.
d. A person must bring suit for a violation of this section not later than one year after the day the cause of action accrues. For purposes of calculating the one-year limitation period, each day that the violation of this section persists, and each day that a policy in violation of this section remains in effect, shall constitute a new violation of this section and, therefore, a new day that the cause of action has accrued.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to the right to use campus for free speech activities
Purpose
To ensure that free speech activities are protected on college campuses.
Summary of provisions
Section one amends the education law to add a new section 6438-a, which provides a right to use a college campus for free speech activities. Specifically, it provides that the outdoor areas of campuses shall be deemed traditional public forums and that a college may maintain reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions in service of a significant institutional interest only when such restrictions employ clear, published, content and viewpoint-neutral criteria and provide ample alternative means of expression. Any person who wishes to engage in noncommercial speech on campus shall be permitted to do so freely, as long as their conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the institution. This section does not grant any person the right to materially disrupt previously scheduled or reserved activities in a portion or section of the campus at a scheduled time. Section one also provides that the attorney general may bring an action in court to enjoin violation of this section, and that persons whose rights were violated may bring an action to enjoin violation of this section and for damages. In such an action, the court shall award not less than five hundred dollars and an additional fifty dollars per day for each day the violation is ongoing, accruing from the date the complaint is served on the institution of higher education. Total damages are capped at two hundred fifty thousand dollars. Lastly, this section provides that a suit for violation must be brought within one year after the day the cause of action accrues.
Read the full memo (624 words)
Section two provides the effective date.
Justification
The purpose of higher education is to encourage unfettered inquiry and discussion. In a well-intentioned effort to protect certain students, colleges have developed policies that actually limit the right of free expression on campuses. Speakers have been shouted down, or prohibited from speaking on campus because they represent an unpopular perspective. Programs that are politically unpopular have been cancelled or students who represent a differing opinion have been prohibited from attending certain events.
For example, a screening of a documentary film about the Israeli Defense Forces hosted by a pro-Israel student group at the University of California Irvine was disrupted by aggressive protests by a pro-Palestinian student group and had to be cancelled due to safety concerns. Pro-Israel speakers, and speakers on other topics deemed controversial by colleges or student groups, have been barred from, speaking on campuses altogether. In response to the increasing number of these types of incidents, the City University of New York has recently issued a draft policy to protect free speech on its campuses.
This legislation will ensure that free speech is protected on campuses, as long as it does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the institution. Outdoor areas of campuses are designated as traditional public forums, where speech activities must be allowed, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. This serves to protect free speech, while still retaining the ability of a college to make reasonable restrictions necessary for the functioning of the institution.
It is critical that our college campuses remain open to all viewpoints, and that speech is not suppressed simply because it is unpopular, or out of concern that certain students may find it upsetting. Our institutions of higher learning must serve as centers for the free exchange of ideas.
Legislative history
This is a new bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.