SB575,,13 (b) The principles stated in par. (a) carry responsibilities, as follows:

SB575,,14 1. Academic freedom carries the responsibility for the faithful performance of professional duties and obligations. All members of an institution’s community share in the responsibility for maintaining civility and a climate of mutual respect. Although members of an institution’s community are free to criticize and contest the views expressed on campus, they may not obstruct or otherwise interfere with the freedom of others, including speakers who are invited to campus, to express views they reject or even loathe.

SB575,,15 2. Freedom of expression carries the obligation to make clear that when speaking on matters of public interest or concern, one is speaking on behalf of oneself, not the institution.

SB575,,16 3. An institution has a solemn responsibility not only to promote lively and fearless exploration, deliberation, and debate of ideas, but also to protect those freedoms when others attempt to restrict them. Exploration, deliberation, and debate may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of an institution’s community, or those outside the community, to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrongheaded. It is for the members of an institution’s community, not for the institution itself, to make those judgments for themselves, and to act on those judgments not by seeking to suppress exploration of ideas or expression of speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose. Fostering the ability of members of an institution’s community to engage in such debate and deliberation in an effective and responsible manner is an essential part of an institution’s educational mission.

SB575,,17 (3) First Amendment protections. (a) Except as specified in this section, an institution may not do any of the following:

SB575,,18 1. Restrict speech protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, including noncommercial expressive activities protected under the provisions of this section, which include all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches, distribution of literature, carrying signs, circulating petitions, and the recording and lawful publication, including Internet publication, of video and audio lawfully recorded in public outdoor areas of public institutions of higher education, if the speaker’s conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the institution.

SB575,,19 2. Maintain and enforce time, place, and manner restrictions on expressive activities on the open outdoor areas of its campus that are generally accessible to the public and indoor areas that have been designated as public forums, except classrooms while they are in use for instructional purposes, unless those restrictions meet all of the following requirements:

SB575,,20 a. The restrictions are reasonable, in furtherance of a significant institutional interest, and employ clear, published, content-neutral, and viewpoint-neutral criteria.

SB575,,21 b. The restrictions provide for ample alternative means for communication of the information and allow for members of the institution’s community to spontaneously and contemporaneously distribute literature and assemble.

SB575,,22 3. Designate any area of a campus a “free speech zone” or otherwise create policies restricting noncommercial expressive activities to a particular area of a campus.

SB575,,23 4. Require a permit from any individual or group as a condition of being allowed to engage in expressive activities protected under this section, unless the individual or group is seeking exclusive control of a location for its expressive activity at a reserved time. Any such permitting process may not be overly burdensome, and applications for permits shall be evaluated solely using published content and viewpoint-neutral criteria.

SB575,,24 5. Charge security fees to a student or a student group, as part of an application for those expressive activities that require a permit, based on the content of the expression, the content of the expression of an invited guest, or the anticipated reaction to the student’s, student group’s, or invited guest’s expression. Whether the security fee is required and its amount may be determined only on the basis of content and viewpoint-neutral criteria. Content and viewpoint-neutral criteria include the time of the event, the location of the event, the anticipated size of the invited audience, and whether alcohol will be served. Any institution charging security fees pursuant to this subdivision shall publish the criteria it uses for assessing those charges and shall have a published process for waving the fees for those who cannot afford to pay them.

SB575,,25 6. Sanction individuals or groups for discriminatory harassment unless the speech targets its victim on the basis of the victim’s membership in a class protected under federal, state, or local law, and is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars a student from receiving equal access to educational opportunities or benefits. This subdivision does not preclude an institution from providing additional resources to a student affected by speech that cannot be sanctioned under this subdivision or from taking nonpunitive actions.

SB575,,26 (b) All indoor areas that have been designated as public forums and outdoor public areas generally accessible to the public and operated by an institution or under the institution’s jurisdiction, except classrooms while they are in use for instructional purposes, shall be governed by rules applicable to traditional public forums.

SB575,,27 (c) 1. Nothing in this section enables individuals to engage in conduct that intentionally, materially, and substantially disrupts another’s expressive activity if that activity is occurring in a campus space reserved for that activity under the exclusive use or control of a particular group.

SB575,,28 2. For purposes of subd. 1., and subject to subd. 3., “materially and substantially disrupts” means when a person, with the intent or knowledge of doing so, significantly hinders another person’s or group’s expressive activity, prevents the communication of the message, or prevents the transaction of the business of a lawful meeting, gathering, or procession by doing any of the following:

SB575,,29 a. Engaging in fighting, violence, or seriously disruptive behavior.

SB575,,30 b. Physically blocking or significantly hindering any person from attending, listening to, viewing, or otherwise participating in an expressive activity.

SB575,,31 3. For purposes of subd. 1., the phrase “materially and substantially disrupts” does not include conduct that is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution or article I, section 3, of the Wisconsin Constitution. This protected conduct includes lawful protests and counterprotests in the outdoor areas of campus generally accessible to members of the public and indoor areas that have been designated as public forums, except classrooms while they are in use for instructional purposes, except during times when those areas have been reserved in advance for other events, or minor, brief, or fleeting nonviolent disruptions of events that are isolated and short in duration.

SB575,,32 (d) Nothing in this section limits the right of student expression at campus locations that are not specified in this section.

SB575,,33 (e) An institution shall do all of the following:

SB575,,34 1. Conduct a biennial survey of students and employees on First Amendment rights, academic freedom, perceived political, ideological, or other bias at the institution, and whether campus culture promotes self-censorship. The survey shall be conducted using statistically sound methodology and in a manner that protects the confidentiality of the survey’s respondents.

SB575,,35 2. Biennially submit to the legislature under s. 13.172 (2) a report detailing the results of the survey under subd. 1.

SB575,,36 3. Annually provide all students and employees with instruction in academic freedom, due process, and First Amendment protections.

SB575,,37 (4) Academic freedom. (a) No board policy, institution policy, or employee may limit the expressive rights and academic freedom of an instructor of an institution to do any of the following:

SB575,,38 1. Conduct research, publish, lecture, or teach in the academic setting.

SB575,,39 2. Require students to participate in instructional exercises with legitimate pedagogical purposes that involve exploring, or arguing for or against, any argument or assertion.

SB575,,40 3. Speak publicly as a private citizen on matters of public concern.

SB575,,41 (b) Nothing in this subsection shall be interpreted to prohibit an institution from requiring an instructor to perform the instructor’s academic duties or from setting performance standards consistent with this subsection or as required by other law of this state.