HB 158

Higher Education Student Speech Rights

This bill would have created a clear, constitutional standard for determining when students on Utah’s college campuses have been subject to harassment, protecting free speech rather than having an arbitrary standard that impedes and chills students’ free speech rights. It also outlined the obligations that universities have to protect their students from student-on-student harassment. College campuses should provide an opportunity for students to express their views, have their arguments challenged in a respectful manner, and understand the mutual benefit of constructive debate with those they disagree with.