Louisiana § RS 17:3399.32 - Free speech and First Amendment protected expressive activities; public postsecondary education institutions

§ RS 17:3399.32. Free speech and First Amendment protected expressive activities; public postsecondary education institutions

            A. Free speech and First Amendment protected expressive activities at public postsecondary education institutions by students, administrators, faculty members, staff members, and invited guests are protected pursuant to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America and Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution of Louisiana.

            B. Any person who wishes to engage in noncommercial expressive activity on the campus of a public postsecondary education institution shall be permitted to do so freely, as long as the person's conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the institution.

            C. The outdoor areas of a public postsecondary education institution shall be deemed traditional public forums and open to expressive activities. Nothing in this Part shall be interpreted as limiting the right of student expression elsewhere on campus.

            D. A public postsecondary education institution may maintain and enforce reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions narrowly tailored in service of a significant institutional interest only when such restrictions employ clear, published, and content- and viewpoint-neutral criteria and provide for ample alternative means of expression. Any such restrictions shall allow for spontaneous and contemporaneous assembly and distribution of literature.

            E.(1) A public postsecondary education institution may require a permit from any individual or group as a condition of being granted exclusive control of a location for expressive activity at a reserved time. Any such permitting process shall not be overly burdensome, and applications for permits shall be evaluated solely based on published content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral criteria. If a public postsecondary education institution denies a permit, it shall provide a reason for doing so in writing within two business days to the applicant and allow the applicant to appeal the denial.

            (2)(a) A public postsecondary education institution may charge a security fee to a student or student organization as part of an application for such a permit; however, no public postsecondary education institution shall charge security fees based on the content of the expression of the student or student organization, the content of the expression of an invited guest, or the anticipated reaction to any such content.

            (b) The determination of whether or not the security fee is required and the amount of the fee shall be based solely on published content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral criteria, including but not limited to the time of the event, the location of the event, the anticipated size of the invited audience, and whether or not alcohol will be served.

            (c) Any institution charging security fees pursuant to this Paragraph shall publish the criteria it uses for assessing the fees.

            F. Each public postsecondary education institution shall prohibit student-on-student discriminatory harassment. An institution may not sanction or discipline a student's expression as student-on-student discriminatory harassment unless the expression meets the definition provided by this Part.

            G.(1) Nothing in this Part shall be interpreted as preventing institutions from prohibiting, limiting, or restricting expression that is unprotected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America or Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution of Louisiana, such as true threats or expressions directed to provoke and likely to produce imminent lawless actions.

            (2) Nothing in this Part shall be interpreted as preventing institutions from responding, through nonpunitive actions, to student expression that does not meet the definition of student-on-student discriminatory harassment.

            (3) Nothing in this Part shall be interpreted as preventing institutions from maintaining policies prohibiting stalking or other criminal activity.

            Acts 2018, No. 666, §1, eff. June 1, 2018; Acts 2022, No. 727, §1; Acts 2024, No. 584, §1, eff. June 11, 2024.