New Hampshire passes bill ensuring free speech protections
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed the Forming Open and Robust University Minds Act (H.B. 1305) into law on July 19.
Among other measures, the law ensures protections for 'all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches and guest speakers, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating petitions.'
Anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the nation have brought freedom of expression to the political foreground in recent months. Now, one New England state is taking legal action to clarify the nature of free speech.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed the Forming Open and Robust University Minds Act (H.B. 1305) into law on July 19, which “establishes procedures governing freedom of speech and association at public institutions of higher education.”
The bill ensures protections for “all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches and guest speakers, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating petitions,” stating that victims of free speech violations will be allowed to file for damages as high as $20,000.
Rep. Daniel Popovici-Muller, one of the bill’s 11 sponsors, emphasized his views on free speech and the necessity of legally-defined frameworks for protecting freedom of expression.
“We cannot and should not punish people based on the content of their lawful speech, regardless of how repugnant we may find it,” he said. “Free speech is the cornerstone of our nation. Tampering with it is foolish.”
[RELATED: ACLU calls for charges to be dropped against disruptive anti-Israel activists in NH]
The bill also draws a line between legal and illegal expression, noting that anyone who engages in modes of expression which “materially and substantially disrupt permitted expressive activity or the functioning of the public institution of higher education” will be subject to sanction.
H.B. 1305 garnered support from Republicans and Democrats alike, including Democratic Rep. Jonah Wheeler, who voiced concern over previous instances of school administrators’ attempts to suppress free speech.
“There’s a problem in our schools right now that students have been reporting for a long time. Their free speech has been hampered…by college administrators who are trying their hardest to keep things nice,” he told the NH Journal.
The bill comes in the wake of significant controversy surrounding free speech and anti-Israel protests at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Members of the school’s Palestine Solidarity Coalition set up an encampment on public property, which UNH President James Dean feared posed a threat to student safety.
“People had made preparations with both food and medicine but also rocks and sticks that were inside the encampment that they tried to build,” Dean said in May. “It would not be consistent with campus safety for us to allow people to create that sort of an encampment.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Gov. Sununu and Rep. Popovici-Muller for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
