BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Legislation seeking to protect controversial speakers’ appearances at Louisiana colleges and calling on campuses to penalize students who disrupt them won final passage Tuesday from state lawmakers, but only after its punishment provisions were watered down.
Alexandria Rep. Lance Harris, chairman of the House Republican Delegation, said his bill comes in response to university decisions to shut down appearances from speakers amid demonstrations and threats of violence. He’s cited the decision by officials at the University of California, Berkeley, to cancel a speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
“The major thing is it now makes the university stress the importance of freedom of expression and free speech in orientation,” Harris said after the vote.
Republicans in several states have proposed similar legislation. The measure heads to Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who hasn’t indicated if he’ll sign it.
Harris’ proposal - given final passage with a 94-1 House vote Tuesday - calls on colleges to establish sanctions for students who interfere with “the free expression of others.” It would require colleges to adopt a statement saying they strive for free expression on campuses, won’t shield students from unwelcome or offensive speech, and will permit protests and demonstrations.
Louisiana’s Board of Regents would have to create a “committee on free expression” to report annually on controversies or barriers to free speech that the panel finds.
During prior debates on the bill, opponents questioned if the legislation’s provisions were too far-reaching and if the measure was needed. But provisions establishing mandatory penalties and allowing campuses to be sued were stripped by the Senate, ending any opposition. Instead, campuses get to decide any punishments when students are deemed to be inhibiting free speech.
“We were working with the universities. They already had some pretty good policies in place,” Harris said. “We took out the cause of action (for filing lawsuits) because that was concerning to a lot of people.”
No one spoke against the bill on the House floor Tuesday.
Harris said his proposal is modeled after an Arizona law passed in 2016.
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House Bill 269: www.legis.la.gov
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