§ 4071. Denial
of equal access prohibited
(a) Restriction of limited open forum on basis of religious,
political, philosophical, or other speech context prohibited. It
shall be unlawful for any public secondary school which receives
Federal financial assistance and which has a limited open forum
to deny equal access or a fair opportunity to, or discriminate
against, any students who wish to conduct a meeting within that
limited open forum on the basis of the religious, political,
philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings.
(b) "Limited open forum" defined. A public secondary school has
a limited open forum whenever such school grants an offering to
or opportunity for one or more non-curriculum related student
groups to meet on school premises during non-instructional time.
(c) Fair opportunity criteria. Schools shall be deemed to offer
a fair opportunity to students who wish to conduct a meeting
within its limited open forum if such school uniformly provides
that--
(1) the meeting is
voluntary and student-initiated;
(2) there is no sponsorship of the meeting by the school,
the government, or its agents or employees;
(3) employees or agents of the school or government are
present at religious meetings only in a non-participatory
capacity;
(4) the meeting does not materially and substantially
interfere with the orderly conduct of educational
activities within the school; and
(5) nonschool persons may not direct, conduct, control,
or regularly attend activities of student groups.
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(d) Construction of title [20
USCS §§ 4071 et seq.] with respect to certain rights. Nothing in
this title [20 USCS §§ 4071 et seq.] shall be construed to
authorize the United States or any State or political
subdivision thereof --
(1) to influence the form
or content of any prayer or other religious activity;
(2) to require any person to participate in prayer or
other religious activity;
(3) to expend public funds beyond the incidental cost of
providing the space for student-initiated meetings;
(4) to compel any school agent or employee to attend a
school meeting if the content of the speech at the meeting
is contrary to the beliefs of the agent or employee;
(5) to sanction meetings that are otherwise unlawful;
(6) to limit the rights of groups of students which are
not of a specified numerical size; or
(7) to abridge the constitutional rights of any person.
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(e) Federal financial assistance
to schools unaffected. Notwithstanding the availability of any
other remedy under the Constitution or the laws of the United
States, nothing in this title [20 USCS §§ 4071 et seq.] shall be
construed to authorize the United States to deny or withhold
Federal financial assistance to any school.
(f) Authority of schools with respect to order, discipline,
well-being, and attendance concerns. Nothing in this title [20
USCS §§ 4071 et seq.] shall be construed to limit the authority
of the school, its agents or employees, to maintain order and
discipline on school premises, to protect the well-being of
students and faculty, and to assure that attendance of students
at meetings is voluntary.
20 USCS § 4072 (2007)
§ 4072. Definitions
As used in this title [20 USCS §§ 4071 et seq.]—
(1) The term "secondary school" means a public school which
provides secondary education as determined by State law.
(2) The term "sponsorship" includes the act of promoting,
leading, or participating in a meeting. The assignment of a
teacher, administrator, or other school employee to a meeting
for custodial purposes does not constitute sponsorship of the
meeting.
(3) The term "meeting" includes those activities of student
groups which are permitted under a school's limited open forum
and are not directly related to the school curriculum.
(4) The term "non-instructional time" means time set aside by
the school before actual classroom instruction begins or after
actual classroom instruction ends. |
