AB 2551

A portion of the Donahoe Higher Education Act, known as the Equity in Higher Education Act, provides, among other things, that all students have the right to participate fully in the educational process, free from discrimination and harassment, and that postsecondary educational institutions have an affirmative obligation to combat discrimination on the basis of, among other things, disability, gender, race, or ethnicity, and a responsibility to provide equal educational opportunity. A provision of the act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make the provision applicable. The Equity in Higher Education Act requires the Trustees of the California State University and the Regents of the University of California to have the primary responsibility to prevent and address conduct that either creates a hostile environment for students on campus or results in differential treatment of students on campus, as specified. The act requires the trustees to, among other things, adopt rules and procedures in the student codes of conduct to prohibit violent, harassing, intimidating, or discriminatory conduct that creates a hostile environment on campus, to prohibit conduct that limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the free exchange of ideas or the educational mission of the California State University, and to establish, and require each campus to publish on the campus internet website, reasonable content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions and, if applicable, any advance permitting requirements for protests on campus. The act requires the trustees to submit a report to the Legislature, on or before January 2 of each year, on the implementation and administration of these provisions, including information on student code of conduct violations. The act requests the University of California to comply with these provisions. This bill would require the above-described report to also include demographic data about students reported to have violated the student codes of conduct. The bill would require each campus of the California State University to establish a committee that would be required to hold at least 2 student hearings before January 1, 2029, to elicit feedback regarding established content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions, as provided. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2029.