HOUSE BILL No. 5350


     November 5, 1997, Introduced by Reps. Kaza, Raczkowski, Scranton, Mans, Gustafson and Richner and referred to the Committee on Colleges and Universities.


        A bill to protect the free speech rights of college stu-

   dents; and to provide remedies.

               THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 1         Sec. 1.  This act shall be known and may be cited as "the

 2    Michigan collegiate speech protection act".

 3         Sec. 2.  As used in this act, "state-supported postsecondary

 4    educational institution" means a postsecondary educational insti-

 5    tution that receives money directly from a state appropriation or

 6    that enrolls students who receive financial aid from a

 7    state-funded student financial aid program.

 8         Sec. 3.  (1) Subject to subsection (2), a state-supported

 9    postsecondary educational institution shall not establish or

10    enforce a rule or policy that subjects a student to disciplinary

11    action solely on the basis of conduct that is speech or other




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 1    communication protected from government restriction under the

 2    first amendment to the constitution of the United States.

 3         (2) This section does not apply to a state-supported post-

 4    secondary educational institution that is controlled by a reli-

 5    gious organization to the extent that the application of this

 6    section would not be consistent with the organization's religious

 7    tenets.

 8         Sec. 4.  A student at a state-supported postsecondary educa-

 9    tional institution may bring a civil action in the circuit court

10    for violation of this section.  If the court finds a violation of

11    this section, the court shall order appropriate injunctive or

12    declaratory relief, or both, and shall award costs and reasonable

13    attorney fees to a prevailing plaintiff.































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