20 U.S.C. § 4071 — Denial of equal access prohibited

Page 1218 TITLE 20—EDUCATION § 4071 Section 4057, Pub. L. 98–377, title VII, § 707, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1300, related to applications and require- ments. Section 4058, Pub. L. 98–377, title VII, § 708, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1301, related to special considerations in approving applications. Section 4059, Pub. L. 98–377, title VII, § 709, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1301; Pub. L. 99–159, title II, § 264, Nov. 22, 1985, 99 Stat. 902, related to prohibitions on use of grants. Section 4060, Pub. L. 98–377, title VII, § 710, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1301, related to limitation on payments. Section 4061, Pub. L. 98–377, title VII, § 711, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1301; Pub. L. 98–558, title VII, § 702, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2900, related to payments. Section 4062, Pub. L. 98–377, title VII, § 712, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1302, related to withholding. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF REPEAL Repeal effective July 1, 1988, see section 6303 of Pub. L. 100–297, set out as an Effective Date of 1988 Amend- ment note under section 1071 of this title. SUBCHAPTER VIII—EQUAL ACCESS § 4071. Denial of equal access prohibited (a) Restriction of limited open forum on basis of religious, political, philosophical, or other speech content prohibited It shall be unlawful for any public secondary school which receives Federal financial assist- ance 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 noncur- riculum related student groups to meet on school premises during noninstructional time. (c) Fair opportunity criteria Schools shall be deemed to offer a fair oppor- tunity to students who wish to conduct a meet- ing within its limited open forum if such school uniformly provides that— (1) the meeting is voluntary and student-ini- tiated; (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 gov- ernment are present at religious meetings only in a nonparticipatory capacity; (4) the meeting does not materially and sub- stantially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activities within the school; and (5) nonschool persons may not direct, con- duct, control, or regularly attend activities of student groups. (d) Construction of subchapter with respect to certain rights Nothing in this subchapter 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 inci- dental 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. (e) Federal financial assistance to schools unaf- fected Notwithstanding the availability of any other remedy under the Constitution or the laws of the United States, nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to authorize the United States to deny or withhold Federal financial as- sistance to any school. (f) Authority of schools with respect to order, discipline, well-being, and attendance con- cerns Nothing in this subchapter 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 attend- ance of students at meetings is voluntary. (Pub. L. 98–377, title VIII, § 802, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1302.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 98–377, title VIII, § 801, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1302, provided that: ‘‘This title [enacting this sub- chapter] may be cited as ‘The Equal Access Act’.’’ § 4072. Definitions As used in this subchapter— (1) The term ‘‘secondary school’’ means a public school which provides secondary edu- cation 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, admin- istrator, or other school employee to a meet- ing for custodial purposes does not constitute sponsorship of the meeting. (3) The term ‘‘meeting’’ includes those ac- tivities 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 ‘‘noninstructional time’’ means time set aside by the school before actual classroom instruction begins or after actual classroom instruction ends. (Pub. L. 98–377, title VIII, § 803, Aug. 11, 1984, 98 Stat. 1303.) § 4073. Severability If any provision of this subchapter or the ap- plication thereof to any person or circumstances