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Enacted Campus Free Speech Statutes – New Hampshire
In 2024, New Hampshire enacted .
HB 1305 Bill Summary
HB 1305 declares the outdoor areas of public campuses to be public forums for the campus community and prohibits policies that quarantine speech to misleadingly labeled “free speech zones.” The law also protects belief-based student organizations from being punished for their expression or for requiring their members or leaders to adhere to the organization’s sincerely held beliefs.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits public institutions from quarantining speech within “free speech zones”;
- Declares the outdoor areas of campus to be public forums for the campus community;
- Ensures that belief-based organizations are not discriminated against based on their requirement that the leaders or members of the organization affirm the organization’s sincerely-held beliefs and comply with the organization’s standards of conduct;
- Defines student-on-student harassment in a way that is consistent with the definition provided by the Supreme Court of the United States in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education; and
- Creates a cause of action allowing a “person or student organization” to file a lawsuit to enforce their rights under the statute.