South Carolina H 3582: AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 7-7-270, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DESIGNATION OF VOTING PRECINCTS IN GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SO AS TO RENAME FOUR PRECINCTS AND REDESIGNATE THE MAP NUMBER ON WHICH THE NAMES OF THESE PRECINCTS MAY BE FOUND AND MAINTAINED BY THE REVENUE AND FISCAL AFFAIRS OFFICE. - ratified title

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3582 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 12, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3582

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 BY ENACTING THE 
"FORMING OPEN AND ROBUST UNIVERSITY MINDS (FORUM) ACT" BY ADDING CHAPTER 148 TO 
TITLE 59 SO AS TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS, TO PROVIDE MEASURES TO PROTECT EXPRESSIONS 
BY STUDENTS AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS IN CERTAIN PLACES ON THE CAMPUSES OF 
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING IN THIS STATE, TO PROVIDE RELATED 
REQUIREMENTS FOR POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, TO PROVIDE SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES 
OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING, AND TO PROVIDE MEANS OF REDRESS FOR 
VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT, AMONG OTHER THINGS.

Whereas, the South 
Carolina General Assembly finds that the First Amendment of the United States 
Constitution and the South Carolina Constitution protect the rights of free 
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of association 
and to petition the government for all citizens; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina General Assembly finds that in Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169, 180 
(1972), the Supreme Court of the United States called public universities, 
"peculiarly the marketplace of ideas" where young adults learn to exercise 
these constitutional rights necessary to participate in our system of 
government and to tolerate others' exercise of the same rights, and there is 
"no room for the view that … First Amendment protections should apply with less 
force on college campuses than in the community at large"; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina General Assembly views the exercise of First Amendment rights on 
public university campuses in this State as critical components of the 
education experience for students and requires that each public college and 
university in this State ensure free, robust, and uninhibited debate and 
deliberations by students whether on or off campus; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina General Assembly finds that public colleges and universities in this 
State and elsewhere must provide adequate safeguards for the First Amendment 
rights of their students leading to a stifling of expression on campuses; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina General Assembly finds that the United States Supreme Court has warned 
in Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234, 250 (1957), that if public 
universities stifle student speech and prevent the open exchange of ideas on 
campuses, "our civilization will stagnate and die"; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina General Assembly finds that a significant amount of taxpayer dollars 
are appropriated to public institutions of higher learning each year and as 
such, this Legislature must ensure that all public institutions of higher 
learning receiving state funds recognize freedom of speech as a fundamental 
right for all. Now, therefore,

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

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Forming Open and Robust University Minds 
(FORUM) Act."

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

CHAPTER 148

Forming Open and Robust University Minds (FORUM) Act

 Section 59-148-110. As used in this chapter:

 (1) 
"Benefit" means recognition, registration, the use of facilities for meeting or 
speaking purposes, the use of channels of communication, and the use of funding 
sources that otherwise are available to student organizations at a public 
institution of higher learning.

 (2) 
"Campus community" means students, student organizations, administrators, 
faculty and staff at the institution of higher learning and their invited 
guests.

 (3) 
"Campus" means a building or real property owned or controlled by a public 
institution of higher learning within the same reasonably contiguous geographic 
area and used by the institution in direct support of, or in a manner related 
to, the institution's educational, research, or public service purposes or 
functions.

 (4) 
"Student-on-student harassment" means only that expression that is unwelcome, 
so severe, pervasive, and subjectively and objectively offensive, that a 
student is effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities or 
benefits provided by the public institution of higher education.

 (5) 
"Materially and substantially disrupts" means when a person, with the intent to 
or with knowledge of doing so, significantly hinders another person's or 
group's expressive activity, prevents the communication of the message, or 
prevents the transaction of the business of a lawful meeting, gathering, or 
procession by:

 (a) 
engaging in fighting, violent or other unlawful behavior; or;

 (b) 
initiating measures designed to prohibit the transmission of a person's or 
group's message;

 (c) 
physically blocking or using