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In 2017, Tennessee enacted , now Tenn. Code. Ann. .

SB 723 Summary

SB 723, the Campus Free Speech Protection Act, is comprehensive legislation that extended free speech protections to students and faculty at public institutions of higher education. The statute prohibits a wide range of forms of censorship including misleadingly labeled “free speech zones”, overbroad anti-harassment policies, and speaker disinvitations.

Key Provisions

• Requires institutions to adopt policies consistent with the ;
• Prohibits the use of “free speech zones”;
• Defines student-on-student harassment in a way that is consistent with the definition provided by the Supreme Court in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education;
• Bars institutions from rescinding invitations to speakers invited by students or faculty;
• Prohibits viewpoint discrimination in the allocation of student fees to student organizations; and
• Protects faculty from being punished for speech in the classroom, unless the speech is both “not reasonably germane to the subject matter of the class as broadly construed, and comprises a substantial portion of classroom instruction.”

FIRE Commentary

Comprehensive campus free speech bill becomes law in Tennessee