West Virginia Code 18B-20-4 – Time, place, and manner restrictions
(a) Any person who wishes to engage in protected and lawful expressive activity on campus shall be permitted to do so freely, as long as the person’s conduct is not unlawful, and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the state institution of higher education.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 18B-20-4
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Campus community: includes students, administrators, faculty, and staff at the institution of higher education, and their invited guests. See West Virginia Code 18B-20-1
- Harassment: means an 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 state institution of higher education or sexual harassment as defined by federal law and federal regulations applicable to state institutions of higher education. See West Virginia Code 18B-20-1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- State institution of higher education: means any university, college, or community and technical college under the jurisdiction of a governing board as defined in §. See West Virginia Code 18B-20-1
(b) To enable the state institutions of higher education to function in a safe and secure manner and to advance their missions and objectives, the state institutions of higher education may enact reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions which are content neutral and narrowly tailored to serve a significant state institution of higher education or other governmental interest. A state institution of higher education may deny, cancel, or postpone a reservation, or immediately terminate any ongoing activity that represents a violation of its time, place, and manner restrictions. A state institution of higher education shall endeavor to allow members of the campus community to spontaneously and contemporaneously engage in protected expressive activities.
(c) Nothing in this article shall be interpreted as preventing state institutions of higher education from prohibiting, limiting, or restricting expression not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States such as true threats, expression designed to provoke imminent lawless actions and likely to produce it or prohibiting harassment as defined in § 18B-20-2 of this code, or sexual harassment as prohibited by federal law and defined by federal regulations applicable to state institutions of higher education.
(d) Nothing in this article shall be construed to authorize a person or group to intentionally, materially, and substantially disrupt another person or group’s expressive activity if that activity is occurring in a campus space reserved for that activity under the exclusive use or control of a particular group.