New Louisiana law seeks crackdown on civil disobedience in campus protests

Pro-Palestinian students are met with counter-protesters while marching for divestment at LSU (Matthew Perschall / LSU Reveille)

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has enacted a law to exclude acts of civil disobedience from free speech protections on college campuses.

Senate Bill 294 by Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, was billed as a pro-free speech proposal. The bill was designed to “shore up protections” for campus speech, Hodges said

“What we need on college campuses is education, not activists,” Hodges said.

Students and faculty opposed the bill because they fear it will criminalize free speech.

The new law specifically excludes any act that carries a criminal penalty from free speech protections, meaning campus free speech policies would no longer protect acts of civil disobedience.

“Criminalizing free speech is not the answer,” Pablo Zavala, a Loyola University of New Orleans professor, said during a committee hearing on the bill in May. “Just because someone does not agree with what students are saying or what they are protesting does not give lawmakers authority to curb their rights.”

Civil disobedience was perhaps most famously used against segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. It has since been upheld by many, including conservatives, as an ideal form of nonviolent protest.

Louisiana’s new law also excludes any “activities in which an individual or group is knowingly being monetarily funded or organized by any individual, corporation, business, or organization that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization or foreign adversary by the United States Department of State” from free speech protections.

In presenting her bill during the legislative session, Hodges made several references to pro-Palestinian protests that have become commonplace on university campuses since the outbreak of the Israeli-Hamas war.

“This bill protects free speech for everyone but makes it very clear that criminal activity and pro-terrorist, giving support to terrorist groups, does not belong on our college campuses,” Hodges said during a committee hearing on the bill.

An Axios analysis found that nearly 3,000 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested on university campuses nationwide, including at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Hodges’ legislation also includes several provisions that seek to protect religious students. It prohibits schools from discriminating based on “political, ideological or religious beliefs” and requires that universities do not restrict a student organization’s beliefs or require it to accept leaders of other religions.

The law also prohibits professors from “imposing” their views by requiring them to attend a protest or engage in political activity outside the classroom that aligns with their beliefs.

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