On June 9, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law protecting free speech on college campuses in one of his quirky bill signing videos on Twitter. But on Friday, the governor signed two additional bills that a campus free speech organization says will “pose serious threats to free speech and due process on campus.”
The pro-free speech bill, SB 18, explicitly allows students “to assemble or distribute written material without a permit or other permission” from campus leaders, and it defines “the common outdoor areas of [an] institution’s campus” as “public forums.” This bill is similar to campus free speech bills recently implemented in several other states.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a campus free speech organization, is very concerned about the newer bills signed on Friday, and the group says “the definition of sexual harassment used in SB 212 and HB 1735 is plainly unconstitutional.” The bills define sexual harassment as “[u]nwelcome, sex based verbal or physical conduct that: in the education context, is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that the conduct interferes with a student ’s ability to participate in or benefit from educational programs or activities at a postsecondary educational institution.”
“This definition is missing any kind of objective, reasonable person standard…[a]ny definition of sexual harassment that lacks an objective component is unconstitutional,” FIRE said. The organization also cited several court cases to support its position on the issue.
FIRE contacted Gov. Abbott earlier this month encouraging him to veto the bills. Tyler Coward, FIRE’s legislative counsel, told Washington Examiner that FIRE did not receive a response from the governor.
