In furtherance of the general assembly’s findings in § 49-7-1901, the following restrictions apply to public institutions of higher education in this state:

(1) A student or employee of a public institution of higher education shall not be penalized, discriminated against, or receive any adverse treatment due to the student’s or employee’s refusal to support, believe, endorse, embrace, confess, act upon, or otherwise assent to one (1) or more divisive concepts;

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-7-1903

  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(2) A student or employee of a public institution of higher education shall not be required to endorse a specific ideology or political viewpoint to be eligible for hiring, tenure, promotion, or graduation, and institutions shall not ask the ideological or political viewpoint of a student, job applicant, job candidate, or candidate for promotion or tenure;
(3) A public institution of higher education shall not require an applicant for employment or admission to submit a personal diversity statement or to affirm the applicant’s agreement with an institutional diversity statement as part of the application or admissions process; and
(4) An individual who believes that a violation of this section has occurred may pursue all equitable or legal remedies that may be available to the individual in a court of competent jurisdiction.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Part 19 Contents