New Hampshire § 188-J:2 Freedom of Speech and Association at Public Institutions of Higher Education

New Hampshire Statutes

§ 188-J:2 — Freedom of Speech and Association at Public Institutions of Higher Education

New Hampshire § 188-J:2

Title XVEDUCATION

Ch. 188-JFREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ASSOCIATION IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

This text of New Hampshire § 188-J:2 (Freedom of Speech and Association at Public Institutions of Higher Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 188-J:2 (2026).

Text

I.Expressive activities protected under the provisions of this chapter include, but are not limited to, any lawful verbal, written, audio-visual, or electronic means by which individuals may communicate ideas to one another, including all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches and guest speakers, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating petitions.

II.The outdoor areas of campuses of public institutions of higher education in this state shall be deemed public forums for members of the campus community, and public institutions of higher education shall not create "free speech zones" or other designated areas of campus outside of which expressive activities are prohibited. A public institution of higher education may maintain and enforce reasonable time, place, an

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I. Expressive activities protected under the provisions of this chapter include, but are not limited to, any lawful verbal, written, audio-visual, or electronic means by which individuals may communicate ideas to one another, including all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches and guest speakers, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating petitions.
II. The outdoor areas of campuses of public institutions of higher education in this state shall be deemed public forums for members of the campus community, and public institutions of higher education shall not create "free speech zones" or other designated areas of campus outside of which expressive activities are prohibited. A public institution of higher education may maintain and enforce reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions applicable to traditional public forums and designated public forums created by a public institution of higher education, provided those restrictions are narrowly tailored in service of a significant institutional interest, only when such restrictions employ clear, published, content- and viewpoint-neutral criteria, and provide for ample alternative means of expression. Any such restrictions shall allow for members of the campus community to spontaneously and contemporaneously assemble and distribute literature, provided that any such activity is compliant with the institution's reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as limiting the right of student expression elsewhere on campus.
III. Subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, any member of the campus community who wishes to engage in non-commercial expressive activity on campus shall be permitted to do so freely, as long as the person's conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt permitted expressive activity or the functioning of the public institution of higher education, subject only to the requirements of this chapter.
IV. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as preventing public institutions of higher education from prohibiting, limiting, or restricting behavior, conduct, or expression that:
(a) Violates any law and could be subject to criminal action.
(b) Is unprotected by the free speech provisions of the United States and New Hampshire constitutions, including but not limited to true threats and expression directed to provoke imminent lawless actions.
(c) Constitutes harassment, as defined in RSA 188-J:1, VI or other applicable state or federal law or regulation.