South Carolina S 172: Campus Free Expression Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 172 Text of Previous Version (Jan. 17, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 172

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS SO AS TO ENACT 
THE "CAMPUS FREE EXPRESSION ACT"; BY ADDING ARTICLE 4 TO TITLE 59, CHAPTER 101, 
SO AS TO LIST AND PROTECT FREE EXPRESSION RIGHTS; TO IDENTIFY PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE 
OUTDOOR AREAS OF PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION CAMPUSES AS PUBLIC FORUMS; TO 
GUARANTEE EXISTING EXPRESSIVE ACTIVITY PROTECTIONS; TO PERMIT PUBLIC 
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION TO CHARGE SECURITY FEES FOR EXPRESSIVE 
ACTIVITIES BASED ON NEUTRAL CRITERIA; TO PROVIDE FOR CAUSES OF ACTION FOLLOWING 
A VIOLATION OF EXPRESSIVE RIGHTS; AND TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Campus Free Expression Act".

SECTION 2. Chapter 101, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

Article 4

Campus Free Expression Act

 Section 
59-101-810. For the purposes of this article, "conduct 
that materially and substantially disrupts," means action with the intent to 
significantly hinder another person's or group's expressive activity, prevent 
the communication of the person's or group's message, or prevent the 
transaction of the business of a lawful meeting, gathering, or procession, 
including, but not limited to:

 (1) 
fighting, violent, or seriously disruptive behavior; or

 (2) 
the physical blocking or significant hinderance of any person from attending, 
listening to, viewing, or otherwise participating in an expressive activity.

 Section 
59-101-820. Conduct that materially and 
substantially disrupts shall not include conduct that is protected under the 
First Amendment of the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 2 of 
the South Carolina Constitution. Such protected conduct includes, but is not 
limited to:

 (1) 
lawful protests and counter-protests in the outdoor areas of campus generally 
accessible to members of the public, except during times when those areas have 
been reserved in advance for other events; or

 (2) 
minor, brief, or fleeting nonviolent disruptions of events that are isolated 
and short in duration.

 Section 
59-101-830. Expressive activities protected under the provisions of this 
article include, but are not limited to, all forms of peaceful assembly, 
protests, speeches, distribution of literature, carrying signs, circulating 
petitions, and the recording and lawful publication, including internet 
publication, of video and audio lawfully recorded in public outdoor areas of 
public institutions of higher education.

 Section 59-101-840. The publicly accessible outdoor areas of public higher 
education campuses are deemed traditional public forums. Public institutions of 
higher education may maintain and enforce reasonable time, place, and manner 
restrictions on expressive activity in the publicly accessible outdoor areas of 
campus and in indoor locations that the institutions have opened to the public 
for expressive activity, only if the restrictions:

 (1) 
are reasonable;

 (2) 
are in furtherance of a significant institutional interest;

 (3) 
employ clear, published, content- and viewpoint-neutral criteria;

 (4) 
provide for reasonable alternative means of expression; and

 (5) 
allow for members of the university community to spontaneously and 
contemporaneously distribute literature and assemble.

 Section 
59-101-850. Any person who wishes to engage in noncommercial expressive 
activity on campus shall be permitted to do so freely, as long as his conduct 
is lawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of 
the institution, subject to the requirements of Section 59-101-840. No public 
institution of higher education shall designate any area of its campus as a 
"free speech zone" or otherwise create policies restricting 
expressive activities to particular areas of campus.

 Section 
59-101-860. Nothing in this section shall enable individuals to engage in 
conduct that intentionally, materially, and substantially disrupts another 
person's expressive activity if that activity is occurring in a campus space 
reserved for that activity under the exclusive use or control of a particular 
group.

 Section 
59-101-870. Nothing in this article may be construed as limiting the right of 
student expression elsewhere on campus.

 Section 
59-101-880. Nothing in this section prohibits a public institution of higher 
education from requiring a permit from any individual or group as a condition 
of being granted exclusive control of a location for its expressive activity at 
a reserved time. Any such permitting process shall not be overly burdensome, 
and applications for permits shall be evaluated solely using pu