Free speech and academic freedom at University of Wisconsin System institutions and technical colleges, causes of action against the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and technical college district boards, and Wisconsin grant funding allocation. (FE)

First Amendment protections Under the bill, a UW institution or technical college may not do any of the following: 1) restrict noncommercial speech protected under the First Amendment;

2) maintain and enforce time, place, and manner restrictions on expressive activities on the publicly accessible, open outdoor areas of its campus unless those restrictions meet specified requirements; 3) designate any area of a campus a “free speech zone” or otherwise create policies restricting noncommercial expressive activities to a particular area of a campus; 4) charge fees for additional security based on the anticipated content of speech or anticipated reaction to speech; or 5) sanction individuals or groups for discriminatory harassment unless the speech is unwelcome, targets its victim on the basis of a protected class under law, and is demonstrably so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars a student from receiving equal access to educational opportunities or benefits. The bill also specifies that all of an institution's or technical college's indoor and outdoor public areas are considered public forums. An institution or technical college must make every reasonable effort to prevent protected speech and sanctioned events, activities, and instruction from being disrupted.

The bill requires an institution or technical college to annually do all of the following: 1) conduct a survey of all students and employees on First Amendment rights, academic freedom, perceived political or other bias at the institution or technical college, and whether campus culture promotes self-censorship; 2) submit a report to the legislature detailing the results of this survey; and 3) provide all students and employees with instruction in academic freedom, due process, and First Amendment protections.

Academic freedom Under the bill, an institution or technical college may not sanction an individual on the basis of content or viewpoints expressed while the individual is directly engaged in instruction, research, or service explicitly related to the individual's role as a student or faculty member of the institution or technical college.

Penalties and Wisconsin grants Under current law, the Wisconsin grant program, administered by the Higher Educational Aids Board, provides grants to resident students enrolled in eligible types of postsecondary schools, including UW institutions and technical colleges.

The amount of funding available for these types of eligible postsecondary schools varies, and the UW System and technical colleges must annually submit to HEAB a proposed formula for awarding Wisconsin grants to students enrolled in UW institutions or technical colleges. HEAB must then approve, modify, or disapprove these proposed formulas for awarding grants to UW or technical college students in the next fiscal year.

Under this bill, a UW institution or technical college that violates any of the free speech or academic freedom provisions described above more than once in a 10-year period is ineligible for allocation of Wisconsin grants for the longer of 1) a period of no less than one fiscal year; or 2) if the institution's or technical college's administrator causes the violation, until the administrator is permanently removed from his or her administrative role. HEAB's formula for awarding Wisconsin grants must take these loss of allocation penalties into consideration. The violation giving rise to this penalty may be found, by a preponderance of the evidence, by any of the following: 1) a state or federal court; 2) HEAB; or 3) a legislative standing committee having jurisdiction over matters relating to higher education. If a violating UW institution or technical college is ineligible for allocation of Wisconsin grants, the institution or technical college must make an award of institutional financial aid to each affected student in the amount that the student would have received as a Wisconsin grant if the institution or technical college had not committed the violation. This institutional financial aid must be paid from the UW institution's or technical college's administrative expense moneys.

In addition, the bill requires a UW institution or technical college that is found to have violated any of the free speech or academic freedom provisions described above to include, for 10 years, the following disclaimer on all notices to individuals regarding admission to the UW institution or technical college: “NOTICE: We are required by the State of Wisconsin to inform you that within the last 10 years ...

[insert name of UW institution or technical college] has violated the free speech or academic freedom provisions in the Wisconsin statutes.” Cause of action Under the bill, the attorney general, a district attorney, or any person whose expressive rights were violated may bring a court action against the Board of Regents of the UW System or the technical college district board for violation by a UW institution or technical college of any of the free speech or academic freedom provisions described above and may seek an injunction and recovery of compensatory damages for persons aggrieved by the violation. In such an action, if the court finds a violation, the court must award to the plaintiffs all of the following: 1) total damages for all persons aggrieved by the violation of not less than $500 for the initial violation plus $50 for each day after the complaint is served that the violation remains ongoing, but not exceeding an aggregate amount of $100,000 for all cases stemming from a single controversy; and 2) court costs and reasonable attorney fees.

An award to the plaintiffs of damages, court costs, or attorney fees must be paid from the UW institution's or technical college's administrative expense moneys.