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Enacted Campus Free Speech Statutes – North Carolina
In 2017, North Carolina enacted HB 527, now N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. §§ 116-300 through 116-304.
HB 527 Summary
HB 527 requires public institutions of higher education in The University of North Carolina System (“covered public institutions of higher education”) to adopt a policy on free expression similar to the University of Chicago Free Speech Policy Statement and prohibits those institutions from quarantining student expression into “free speech zones.”
Key Provisions
- Requires covered public institutions of higher education to adopt a policy on free expression similar to the University of Chicago Free Speech Policy Statement;
- Prohibits covered public institutions of higher education from quarantining student expression into “free speech zones”;
- Ensures covered public institutions of higher education are open to speakers invited by students, student groups, or faculty;
- Requires covered public institutions of higher education to adopt a range of disciplinary sanctions for students who substantially interfere with the protected free expression rights of others;
- Provides due process protections in student disciplinary cases involving speech or expressive conduct;
- Establishes a Committee on Free Expression tasked with providing a report to the legislature and the governor about free speech incidents at covered public institutions of higher education;
- Mandates covered public institutions of higher education include training about their free expression policies during freshman orientation; and
- Prohibits covered public institutions of higher education from requiring students, faculty, or administrators to express the institution’s view on social policy.