Sen. Dan Sullivan on Wednesday withdrew his bill to clarify free expression protections on college campuses because of bipartisan opposition on the Senate Education Committee.
Sullivan, a Republican from Jonesboro, said the bill was aimed at extending campus First Amendment protections to inside classrooms at public colleges. The bill amends the state's Forming Open and Robust University Mind, or FORUM Act, a 2019 law that clarifies free speech protections on college campuses. Sullivan said the bill was to allow "what's legal outside, to what's legal inside."
"So we spend a lot of money on higher ed and it's only right we have the same freedoms outside as we have inside with additional protections," Sullivan said.
Sullivan, whose Senate district is home to Arkansas State University's campus in Jonesboro, decided to withdraw his bill before the committee could vote on it, sensing it was likely to fail. Sullivan contended the bill only allows for brief and nonviolent disruptions inside campus buildings.
Members of the committee said they had concerns over whether the bill would permit disruptions inside buildings on college campuses, taking issue with the bill calling for "minor, brief, or fleeting nonviolent disruptions of events" to be permitted, but not in places that have been reserved for an event.
"My concern is just that it does allow for disruptions in short and isolated duration," said Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville.
[DOCUMENT: Read the Senate bill withdrawn by Sullivan » arkansasonline.com/202sb125/]
Part of Sullivan's goal was to preempt any campus speech code that would require faculty or students to address others by their preferred pronouns, saying colleges could not mandate "the use of specific words, including without limitation pronouns," and are barred from shielding people from language "individuals may find unwelcome, uncollegial, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive."
Sullivan said his bill would protect the free expression of students who misgender their classmates, but also students who wanted to dress in drag.
Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, said lawmakers wrote the FORUM Act to give greater weight to free speech protections outside, saying protests inside campus buildings could be disruptive to classroom instruction.
"What we did specifically was to keep it outside so it would not be disruptive to those classes that take place inside," Chesterfield said.
The bill also said the First Amendment is "the floor of free speech protection," saying colleges must permit lawful protests on any area of campus that is generally accessible to the public. Some on the committee took issue with the bill's striking language citing the "First Amendment" from the FORUM Act. Sullivan said he was open to amending the bill to address the committee members' concerns.
"The legislation cannot give you your First Amendment right -- it can't do that," Sullivan said. "Striking that and putting in other words just clarifies what your First Amendment right is."
The FORUM Act, also known as Act 184, was signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2019. The bill had bipartisan support to clarify free speech protections on college campuses.
Sullivan, who was a sponsor of Act 184, was invited to a meeting at the White House in 2019 where then President Donald Trump warned colleges could lose federal funding if they do not respect the First Amendment rights of students.