RSA 188-J:1 · Definitions:

188-J:1 Definitions: –

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I.

"Benefit" means the recognition, registration, or use of facilities of the institution of higher education for meetings or speaking purposes; or the use of channels of communication of the same; or funding sources that are otherwise available to other student organizations at the public institution of higher education.

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II.

"Campus community" includes students, administrators, faculty, and staff at the institution of higher education.

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III.

"Materially and substantially disrupts" means when a person, with the intent to or with knowledge of doing so, significantly hinders another person's or group's expressive activity which occurs in a campus space reserved for such activity under the exclusive use or control of that particular person or group, prevents the communication of the message, or prevents the transaction of the business of a lawful meeting, gathering or procession by:

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(a)

Engaging in fighting, violent, or other unlawful behavior; or

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(b)

Physically blocking or using threats of violence to prevent any person from attending, listening to, viewing, or otherwise participating in an expressive activity. Conduct that "materially disrupts" shall not include conduct that is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or part I, article 22 of the New Hampshire constitution. Such protected conduct includes, but is not limited to, lawful protests in the outdoor areas of campus generally accessible to the members of the public, 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.

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IV.

"Outdoor areas of campus" means the generally accessible outside areas of campus where members of the campus community are commonly allowed, such as grassy areas, walkways, or other similar common areas and shall not include outdoor areas where access is restricted from a majority of the campus community.

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V.

"Public institution of higher education" means any public technical institute, public junior college, public senior college or university, law school, medical or dental school, public state college, or other agency of higher education as defined in state law.

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VI.

"Harassment" shall mean only that expression that is unwelcome, so severe, pervasive, and subjectively and objectively offensive, that a student is effectively denied equal access to educational opportunities or benefits provided by the public institution of higher education.

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VII.

"Student" means any person who is enrolled on a full-time or part-time basis in a public institution of higher education.

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VIII.

"Student organization" means an officially recognized group at a public institution of higher education, or a group seeking official recognition, comprised of admitted students that receive, or are seeking to receive, benefits through the public institution of higher education. Source. 2024, 232:1, eff. Aug. 1, 2025.

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