 
      CHAPTER 28--HIGHER EDUCATION RESOURCES AND STUDENT ASSISTANCE
 
                    SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
 
                  Part B--Additional General Provisions
 
Sec. 1011a. Protection of student speech and association rights


(a) Protection of rights

    It is the sense of Congress that no student attending an institution 
of higher education on a full- or part-time basis should, on the basis 
of participation in protected speech or protected association, be 
excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be 
subjected to discrimination or official sanction under any education 
program, activity, or division of the institution directly or indirectly 
receiving financial assistance under this chapter, whether or not such 
program, activity, or division is sponsored or officially sanctioned by 
the institution.

(b) Construction

    Nothing in this section shall be construed--
        (1) to discourage the imposition of an official sanction on a 
    student that has willfully participated in the disruption or 
    attempted disruption of a lecture, class, speech, presentation, or 
    performance made or scheduled to be made under the auspices of the 
    institution of higher education; or
        (2) to prevent an institution of higher education from taking 
    appropriate and effective action to prevent violations of State 
    liquor laws, to discourage binge drinking and other alcohol abuse, 
    to protect students from sexual harassment including assault and 
    date rape, to prevent hazing, or to regulate unsanitary or unsafe 
    conditions in any student residence.

(c) Definitions

    For the purposes of this section:

                        (1) Official sanction

        The term ``official sanction''--
            (A) means expulsion, suspension, probation, censure, 
        condemnation, reprimand, or any other disciplinary, coercive, or 
        adverse action taken by an institution of higher education or 
        administrative unit of the institution; and
            (B) includes an oral or written warning made by an official 
        of an institution of higher education acting in the official 
        capacity of the official.

                      (2) Protected association

        The term ``protected association'' means the joining, 
    assembling, and residing with others that is protected under the 
    first and 14th amendments to the Constitution, or would be protected 
    if the institution of higher education involved were subject to 
    those amendments.

                        (3) Protected speech

        The term ``protected speech'' means speech that is protected 
    under the first and 14th amendments to the Constitution, or would be 
    protected if the institution of higher education involved were 
    subject to those amendments.

(Pub. L. 89-329, title I, Sec. 112, as added Pub. L. 105-244, title I, 
Sec. 101(a), Oct. 7, 1998, 112 Stat. 1591.)

                       References in Text

    This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original ``this 
Act'', meaning Pub. L. 89-329, as amended, known as the Higher Education 
Act of 1965. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see 
Short Title note set out under section 1001 of this title and Tables.


                            Prior Provisions

    A prior section 1011a, Pub. L. 89-329, title I, Sec. 122, as added 
Pub. L. 102-325, title I, Sec. 101, July 23, 1992, 106 Stat. 462, 
authorized grants to States, prior to the general amendment of this 
subchapter by Pub. L. 105-244.
