FIRE’s Legislative and Policy Department
Since 2012, FIRE’s Legislative and Policy Department has been at the forefront of nonpartisan efforts to protect civil liberties on college campuses by supporting legislation and regulatory actions that advance student and faculty rights and opposing governmental measures that threaten those rights.
Model Legislation
Free Speech
FIRE’s Legislative and Policy Program promotes legislation and policy that protects students’ and faculty’s right to freedom of speech, while combating measures that would restrict the exercise of that crucial right.
Enacted Campus Free Speech Statutes
Projects
- FIRE submits comment to Department of Education on proposed Title IX regulations
- South Dakota bans campus ‘free speech zones’
- Florida becomes ninth state to ban restrictive campus free speech zones
- Comprehensive campus free speech bill becomes law in Tennessee
- Colorado passes bipartisan bill to strike down speech restrictions on campus
Due Process
FIRE supports legislation that promotes fair and reliable non-academic campus disciplinary hearings. We work with law and policy makers to defeat measures that would further undermine fundamental fairness and to promote those that ensure that the campus judiciary provides meaningful due process protections to students accused of infractions.
Enacted Campus Due Process Statutes
Projects
- U.S. Department of Education enacts new Title IX regulations requiring procedural safeguards in campus disciplinary hearings, adopts Supreme Court sexual harassment definition
- FIRE submits comment to Department of Education on proposed Title IX regulations
- Mountain of evidence shows the Department of Education’s prior approach to campus sexual assault was ‘widely criticized’ and ‘failing’
- Dear Colleague: It’s over! Education Department rescinds controversial 2011 letter
- With New Law, North Dakota Guarantees College Students’ Right to Attorney
- North Carolina Becomes First State to Guarantee College Students’ Right to Attorney
Religious Liberty
Religious liberty is one of the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. That is why FIRE supports legislation that ensures that students of faith have the same rights to campus resources as other students. FIRE opposes policies that would prohibit students’ from forming belief-based organizations that require their members and leaders to adhere to the organization’s beliefs and promotes policies that promote diversity through pluralism.