SECTIONS 66300-66301 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 66300-66301

66300. The Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of
the California State University, and the governing board of every
community college district, shall adopt or provide for the adoption
of specific rules and regulations governing student behavior along
with applicable penalties for violation of the rules and regulations.
The institutions shall adopt procedures by which all students are
informed of such rules and regulations, with applicable penalties,
and any revisions thereof.

66301. (a) Neither the Regents of the University of California, the
Trustees of the California State University, the governing board of
a community college district, nor an administrator of any campus of
those institutions, shall make or enforce a rule subjecting a student
to disciplinary sanction solely on the basis of conduct that is
speech or other communication that, when engaged in outside a campus
of those institutions, is protected from governmental restriction by
the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 2 of
Article I of the California Constitution.
(b) A student enrolled in an institution, as specified in
subdivision (a), at the time that the institution has made or
enforced a rule in violation of subdivision (a) may commence a civil
action to obtain appropriate injunctive and declaratory relief as
determined by the court. Upon a motion, a court may award attorney's
fees to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action pursuant to this
section.
(c) This section does not authorize a prior restraint of student
speech or the student press.
(d) This section does not prohibit the imposition of discipline
for harassment, threats, or intimidation, unless constitutionally
protected.
(e) This section does not prohibit an institution from adopting
rules and regulations that are designed to prevent hate violence, as
defined in subdivision (a) of Section 4 of Chapter 1363 of the
Statutes of 1992, from being directed at students in a manner that
denies them their full participation in the educational process, if
the rules and regulations conform to standards established by the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 2 of
Article I of the California Constitution for citizens generally.
(f) An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined,
reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against solely for
acting to protect a student engaged in conduct authorized under this
section, or refusing to infringe upon conduct that is protected by
this section, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,
or Section 2 of Article I of the California Constitution.