Bill Amendment: IL SB2202 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: ACADEMIC FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Status: 2026-06-01 - Senate Committee Amendment No. 1 Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB2202 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB2202-Senate_Amendment_003.html

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Sen. Graciela Guzm�n

Filed: 4/15/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 2202
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 2202, AS AMENDED,
by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the
following:
"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Academic Freedom of Expression Act.
Section 3. Findings and legislative intent.
(a) The General Assembly finds that:
(1) Institutions of higher education are essential
forums for the open exchange of ideas that foster the free
search for truth, robust debate, and innovation, which
benefits this State. Academic freedom is indispensable to
this mission and therefore warrants statutory protection.
(2) Academic freedom serves not only individual
interests but also the broader public interest by
safeguarding the independence and integrity of teaching,

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learning, and scholarship, which are vital to the economic
and cultural well-being of the State.
(3) The exercise of academic freedom may be threatened
by external pressures, including actions by public
officials or governmental bodies that seek to influence or
restrict teaching, research, or expression. Such actions
undermine the mission of higher education and are contrary
to the public interest.
(b) The General Assembly encourages the governing board of
each post-secondary educational institution, as defined in the
Private College Act, to adopt or amend institutional policies
that incorporate, at a minimum, the academic freedoms, rights,
and obligations for public institutions of higher education
set forth in Section 8 of the Public Higher Education Act. The
General Assembly further encourages each private
post-secondary educational institution to make the
institution's policies on academic freedom, if applicable,
publicly available on the institution's website.
Section 5. The Public Higher Education Act is amended by
adding Section 8 as follows:
(110 ILCS 167/8 new)
Sec. 8. Academic freedom.
(a) As used in this Section:
"Harassment" means conduct directed at a particular

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individual or group that is so severe, pervasive, and
objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person
equal access to a public institution of higher education's
educational programs or activities, consistent with applicable
federal and State law.
"Hate crime" has the meaning given to that term in Section
12-7.1 of the Criminal Code of 2012.
"Intimidation" means a course of conduct directed at a
particular individual or group that would cause a reasonable
person to fear for their physical safety or the physical
safety of others and that is not protected by the First
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, consistent
with applicable federal and State law.
"Threat" means a statement or course of conduct made with
knowledge or reckless disregard that a reasonable person would
interpret as a serious expression of intent to commit an act of
unlawful violence against a particular individual or group,
consistent with applicable federal and State law.
(b) Every faculty member of a public institution of higher
education has the right to all of the following, without fear
of direct or indirect retaliation by the institution or
discipline up to and including termination:
(1) Freedom in teaching, including the right to select
pedagogical methods, course materials, and forms of
assessment and to present and freely discuss the subject
matter of course material, as long as such methods,

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materials, forms of assessment, and discussions are
relevant to the course content and conducted consistent
with lawful institutional policies and standards of the
discipline.
(2) Freedom in research, including the right to
pursue, produce, publish, and disseminate
scholarship-related research, subject only to professional
ethics standards, lawful institutional policies and
responsibilities, contractual obligations, and applicable
laws and regulatory requirements governing research
activities.
(3) Freedom of expression, where the faculty member is
acting in an individual capacity and does not purport to
represent the views of the institution unless the faculty
member is authorized to do so, on matters of public
concern, including the right to comment on institutional,
local, State, or federal policies, practices, governance,
or administration. This freedom shall be exercised in a
manner consistent with applicable laws.
(4) Freedom to attend a political rally or public
demonstration, as long as the faculty member is not absent
from class or other official responsibilities, and to
write or publicly comment on political issues or related
topics, as long as the faculty member is acting in an
individual capacity outside the scope of their assigned
institutional duties and without the use of institutional

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resources, consistent with applicable law and lawful
institutional policies.
Nothing in this Section shall be construed to create an
inconsistent or unequal application of lawful institutional
policies governing expressive activity among faculty, staff,
or other employees of the public institution of higher
education, except as necessary to account for differences in
assigned institutional responsibilities.
(c) Every student of a public institution of higher
education has the right to all of the following, without fear
of direct or indirect retaliation by the institution or
discipline:
(1) Freedom to freely discuss the subject matter of
teaching material in the classroom, as long as such
discussion is relevant to the course content, conducted
consistent with lawful institutional policies, and in
conformity with the class management expectations
established for the applicable class.
(2) Freedom in research, including the right to
pursue, produce, publish, and disseminate
scholarship-related research, subject only to applicable
ethics standards, lawful institutional policies,
contractual obligations, and laws and regulatory
requirements governing research activities.
(3) Freedom of expression on matters of public
concern, including the right to comment on institutional,

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local, State, or federal policies, practices, governance,
or administration. This freedom shall be exercised in a
manner consistent with lawful institutional policies and
applicable laws.
(4) Freedom to attend a political rally or public
demonstration and to write or publicly comment on
political issues or related topics.
(d) This Section may not be construed to:
(1) prevent this State or a public institution of
higher education from enacting generally applicable
academic standards, degree requirements, or governance
structures developed through established
shared-governance processes;
(2) limit compliance with federal or State civil
rights, health and safety, or fiduciary laws;
(3) supersede any valid collective bargaining
agreement provisions that afford equal or greater
protection;
(4) limit the authority of an institution of higher
education to regulate the speech or expressive conduct of
faculty, staff, or students to the extent permitted under
federal or State law, including through reasonable
content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral time, place, and
manner restrictions and the regulation of speech in
nonpublic forums;
(5) restrict an institution's ability to clarify that

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speech or expression by faculty, staff, or students is
undertaken in an individual capacity and does not
represent the views of the institution unless the faculty,
staff, or students were expressly authorized by the
institution; or
(6) prohibit an institution from adopting and
enforcing policies addressing unlawful harassment,
discrimination, threats, intimidation, hate crimes, or
conduct that materially and substantially disrupts the
functioning of the institution or that interferes with the
rights of others to participate in or benefit from
institutional programs or activities, consistent with
federal and State law.
(e) No State officer or employee, member of a State
governing or coordinating board, or institutional
administrator may penalize any faculty member of a public
institution of higher education concerning the specific
content of, viewpoints presented in, or method of the faculty
member's teaching or scholarship, except as necessary to
ensure that a faculty member's teaching or scholarship is
reasonably germane to the faculty member's field or fields of
study or assigned instructional responsibilities and that
non-germane speech does not comprise a substantial portion of
classroom instruction or to comply with applicable law.
(f) The governing board of each public institution of
higher education shall, by July 1, 2027, adopt or amend

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institutional policies to incorporate, at a minimum, the
rights and obligations set forth in this amendatory Act of the
104th General Assembly, in consultation with recognized
faculty governing bodies and, if applicable, collective
bargaining representatives.
Each public institution of higher education shall make the
institution's policies on academic freedom publicly available
on the institution's website by July 1, 2027 and within 60 days
after any subsequent revisions to the policy.
Each public institution of higher education shall submit
the institution's policies on academic freedom to the Illinois
Community College Board or the Board of Higher Education,
whichever is applicable, by July 1, 2027 and within 60 days
after any subsequent revisions to the policy. The Illinois
Community College Board and the Board of Higher Education
shall make the policies received from each institution under
this subsection (f) publicly available on their respective
websites by January 1, 2028 and within 60 days after any
subsequent revisions to the policy. The Illinois Community
College Board and the Board of Higher Education shall each
submit to the General Assembly a report compiling the policies
received from each institution under this subsection (f) by
January 1, 2028.
(g) Alleged violations of this Section shall first be
addressed through an institution's established grievance or
administrative review procedures or applicable collective

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bargaining agreements. A faculty member or student of an
institution at the time that the institution has made or
enforced any rule in violation of this Section may commence a
civil action to obtain appropriate injunctive and declaratory
relief as determined by a court if the faculty member or
student has first exhausted applicable institutional grievance
or administrative review procedures or remedies available
under any applicable collective bargaining agreement. Upon
motion, the court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and
costs, including expert witness fees and other litigation
expenses, to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action brought
under this Section. Nothing in this Section shall be construed
to create a private right of action for damages against an
institution.
Section 15. The Public Community College Act is amended by
changing Section 2-15 as follows:
(110 ILCS 805/2-15) (from Ch. 122, par. 102-15)
Sec. 2-15. Recognition. The State Board shall grant
recognition to community colleges which maintain equipment,
courses of study, standards of scholarship and other
requirements set by the State Board. Application for
recognition shall be made to the State Board. The State Board
shall set the criteria by which the community colleges shall
be judged and through the executive officer of the State Board

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shall arrange for an official evaluation of the community
colleges and shall grant recognition of such community
colleges as may meet the required standards.
Recognition shall include a review of a community
college's compliance with Section 8 of the Public Higher
Education Act. Recognition shall also include a review of
compliance with Section 3-65 of this Act and other applicable
State and federal laws regarding employment contracts and
compensation. Annually, the State Board shall convene an
advisory committee to review the findings and make
recommendations for changes or additions to the laws or the
review procedures.
If a community college district fails to meet the
recognition standards set by the State Board, and if the
district, in accordance with: (a) generally accepted
Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller
General of the United States, (b) auditing standards
established by the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants, or (c) other applicable State and federal
standards, is found by the district's auditor or the State
Board working in cooperation with the district's auditor to
have material deficiencies in the design or operation of
financial control structures that could adversely affect the
district's financial integrity and stability, or is found to
have misused State or federal funds and jeopardized its
participation in State or federal programs, the State Board

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may, notwithstanding any laws to the contrary, implement one
or more of the following emergency powers:
(1) To direct the district to develop and implement a
plan that addresses the budgetary, programmatic, and other
relevant factors contributing to the need to implement
emergency measures. The State Board shall assist in the
development and shall have final approval of the plan.
(2) To direct the district to contract for educational
services in accordance with Section 3-40. The State Board
shall assist in the development and shall have final
approval of any such contractual agreements.
(3) To approve and require revisions of the district's
budget.
(4) To appoint a Financial Administrator to exercise
oversight and control over the district's budget. The
Financial Administrator shall serve at the pleasure of the
State Board and may be an individual, partnership,
corporation, including an accounting firm, or other entity
determined by the State Board to be qualified to serve,
and shall be entitled to compensation. Such compensation
shall be provided through specific appropriations made to
the State Board for that express purpose.
(5) To develop and implement a plan providing for the
dissolution or reorganization of the district if in the
judgment of the State Board the circumstances so require.
All local funds under the control of the State Board as a

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result of the dissolution or reorganization of the
district shall be expended by the State Board for purposes
of providing educational services in the territory from
which those local funds were acquired.
(Source: P.A. 103-940, eff. 8-9-24.)".