Campus free-speech bill clears Georgia Senate

The Georgia Senate passed legislation Monday that would expand free-speech protections for religious and ideological groups, which opponents say could encourage on-campus discrimination.

Senate Bill 318, called the “Forming Open and Robust University Minds Act,” would bar schools from designating so-called “free-speech zones” where student groups can convene outdoors on campus, including for protest events.

Contentiously, the bill would also prohibit Georgia colleges and universities from denying meeting spaces and funding for “religious, political or ideological student organizations.”

While not protecting students or groups that harass other students, the bill would prevent students who do not abide by a particular group’s belief systems from joining or intentionally disrupting that group’s activities.

The bill would let groups sue a college or university for injunctive relief and seek monetary damages of at least $5,000.

Those provisions aim to keep certain groups from being diluted and to block Georgia schools from adopting so-called “all-comer policies,” in which school administrators have greater say in what activities student organizations can undertake, said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. William Ligon.

Ligon, R-Brunswick, said his bill aims to broadly protect free speech on college campuses, including for groups that may hold beliefs not grounded in fact or reality. Allowing those groups and ideologies to face debate and challenges to their beliefs is a key part of the bill, he said.

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