The Louisiana state senate made news back in June for passing SB 294, a bill that “Confirms the protections of free speech and First Amendment protected activities on college and university campuses.” 

While this act, proposed by Denham Spring’s Sen. Valerie Hodges (R), parades as a victory for Louisianian’s First Amendment rights, certain clauses within the bill limit the ways in which Louisiana students can protest on college campuses. 

The article itself is a cut and dry defense of Free Speech for college students. The article’s basic proclamation states that “Free speech and First Amendment protected expressive activities at public postsecondary education institutions by students, administrators, faculty members, staff members, and invited guests are protected, pursuant to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America and Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution of Louisiana.” In short, legal forms of protest are protected under the law.

The rub comes when considering the not-so-legal forms of protest found on college campuses. Civil disobedience has historically been a formative mode of protest. Suffragettes voted illegally, black Americans held sit-ins in white-only bars, and, most recently, pro-Palestine students across the country held encampments on their campuses to protest against the Israeli-Palestine conflict. 

SB 294 was written in direct response to student encampments, particularly the encampment at Tulane that was built and cleared in late April. In one section, the bill directly states that no protest is lawful if its organizers are “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.” This clause seems to be a call out from Louisiana Republicans towards the pro-Palestine protesters. It is important to note, however, that pro-Palestine protest is not synonymous with support for Hamas, nor is it funded or sponsored by the terrorist organization.

Most importantly, all Louisiana public universities are encouraged, and required, to agree to engage “in protecting its students from student-on-student discriminatory harassment.” This clause aims to help dilute violence between students with opposing views, however student-activists at Tulane worry schools will use this clause to turn down any protest permits that are for controversial viewpoints. This would give legal ground for an institution to disallow any pro-Palestine protest, or any other protest it feels would bring forth “discriminatory harassment.”

The bill is directed at public higher-education institutions, and while Centenary is a private institution, our students are still impacted by the law. The Centenary policy on protest is as follows: 

“Students and approved organizations have the right to publicly assemble and express  

themselves provided they abide by all College, State, and Federal policies, procedures,  

and laws”

Centenary is not required to limit forms of protest or defer prosecution to the state, although according to the school’s rules, it is capable of doing so if it chooses. Students should be aware of the new law and how it might impact future consequences of both legal and illegal forms of civil protest. 

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