Bill Text: NY A04772 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts "the combating campus antisemitism act"; prohibits the granting of tuition assistance awards to any student who has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism in a manner that is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action, that constitutes "true threats"; makes related provisions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 29-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-06 - referred to higher education [A04772 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A04772-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4772 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 6, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. E. BROWN, ANGELINO, MANKTELOW, SLATER, SMULLEN, TAGUE, SIMPSON, DeSTEFANO, GALLAHAN, LEMONDES, RA, HAWLEY, BLUMEN- CRANZ, BEEPHAN, NOVAKHOV, K. BROWN, MIKULIN, FITZPATRICK, SMITH, JENSEN, McDONOUGH, MILLER, FRIEND, CHANG, PALMESANO, WALSH, BLANKEN- BUSH, BRABENEC, PIROZZOLO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to prohibiting the grant of tuition assistance awards to any student who has knowingly engaged in certain antisemitic activities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act may be known and shall be cited as 2 "the combating campus antisemitism act". 3 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 666 of the education law, as amended by 4 chapter 947 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows: 5 2. Eligible students. Tuition awards may be made to students, who 6 comply with the requirements provided in subdivisions three, five and 7 six of section six hundred sixty-one of this article, and (i) are also 8 part-time students matriculated in approved undergraduate degree 9 programs or enrolled and accepted into registered certificate programs 10 and (ii) if eligible to claim dependents or to be claimed as dependents 11 under the tax law, whose incomes do not exceed fifty thousand five 12 hundred fifty dollars or if ineligible whose incomes do not exceed thir- 13 ty-four thousand two hundred fifty dollars. The continuation of eligi- 14 bility for a tuition award shall require the retention of good academic 15 standing, as defined by the commissioner pursuant to article thirteen of 16 this chapter. Prior to the approval of any additional award pursuant to 17 this section, participating institutions shall review the academic 18 standing of all recipients of awards pursuant to this section; and 19 provided, further, that no tuition assistance award shall be provided to 20 any student, in any academic year, who has knowingly engaged in promot- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03483-01-5A. 4772 2 1 ing antisemitism in a manner that is directed to inciting or producing 2 imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action, 3 that constitutes "true threats," as defined by the United States supreme 4 court in Virginia v. Black (2003), or that constitutes "fighting words," 5 pursuant to Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), or fails to adequately 6 address any such event. The term "antisemitism" shall have the same 7 meaning as the working definition for "antisemitism" as provided by the 8 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May 26, 2016, including 9 the contemporary examples of antisemitism cited by the International 10 Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The higher education services corpo- 11 ration of the state of New York shall establish guidelines for determin- 12 ing when a student has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism as 13 well as guidelines for actions that may be taken to restore and/or 14 resume a tuition assistance award. 15 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 667 of the education law, as amended by 16 chapter 622 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows: 17 1. Recipient qualifications. Tuition assistance program awards are 18 available for all students who are enrolled in approved programs and who 19 demonstrate the ability to complete such courses, in accordance with 20 standards established by the commissioner provided, however, that no 21 award shall be made unless tuition (exclusive of educational fees) and, 22 if applicable, the college fee levied by the state university of New 23 York pursuant to the April first, nineteen hundred sixty-four financing 24 agreements with the New York state dormitory authority charged for the 25 program in which the student is enrolled total at least two hundred 26 dollars a year, [and provided further that,] no award can exceed one 27 hundred percent of the amount of tuition charged; and provided, further, 28 that no tuition assistance award shall be provided to any student, in 29 any academic year, who has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism 30 in a manner that is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless 31 action and is likely to incite or produce such action, that constitutes 32 "true threats," as defined by the United States supreme court in Virgi- 33 nia v. Black (2003), or that constitutes "fighting words," pursuant to 34 Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), or fails to adequately address any 35 such event. The term "antisemitism" shall have the same meaning as the 36 working definition for "antisemitism" as provided by the International 37 Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May 26, 2016, including the contempo- 38 rary examples of antisemitism cited by the International Holocaust 39 Remembrance Alliance. The higher education services corporation of the 40 state of New York shall establish guidelines for determining when a 41 student has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism as well as 42 guidelines for actions that may be taken to restore and/or resume a 43 tuition assistance award. 44 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 667-a of the education law, as amended 45 by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows: 46 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that to further 47 the goal of equal opportunity it is necessary to assure the availability 48 of supplemental assistance for the successful remediation of educa- 49 tionally disadvantaged students in addition to assistance currently 50 available under existing statute for students with financial need. 51 Accordingly, tuition assistance shall be extended to students whose need 52 for remediation precludes them from fulfilling the program pursuit and 53 academic progress requirements of the tuition assistance program; and 54 provided, further, that no supplemental tuition assistance award shall 55 be provided to any student, in any academic year, who has knowingly 56 engaged in promoting antisemitism in a manner that is directed to incit-A. 4772 3 1 ing or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or 2 produce such action, that constitutes "true threats," as defined by the 3 United States supreme court in Virginia v. Black (2003), or that consti- 4 tutes "fighting words," pursuant to Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), 5 or fails to adequately address any such event. The term "antisemitism" 6 shall have the same meaning as the working definition for "antisemitism" 7 as provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May 8 26, 2016, including the contemporary examples of antisemitism cited by 9 the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The higher education 10 services corporation of the state of New York shall establish guidelines 11 for determining when a student has knowingly engaged in promoting anti- 12 semitism as well as guidelines for actions that may be taken to restore 13 and/or resume a tuition assistance award. 14 § 5. Subdivision 1 of section 667-c of the education law, as amended 15 by section 1 of part E of chapter 56 of the laws of 2022, paragraph a as 16 amended by section 1 of part W of chapter 56 of the laws of 2024, and 17 paragraph b as amended by section 1 of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws 18 of 2023, is amended to read as follows: 19 1. Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the 20 president of the higher education services corporation is authorized to 21 make tuition assistance program awards to: 22 a. part-time students enrolled at a degree granting institution of 23 higher education incorporated by the regents or by the legislature who 24 meet all requirements for tuition assistance program awards except for 25 the students' part-time attendance; and provided, further, that no part- 26 time tuition assistance award shall be provided to any student, in any 27 academic year, who has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism in a 28 manner that is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action 29 and is likely to incite or produce such action, that constitutes "true 30 threats," as defined by the United States supreme court in Virginia v. 31 Black (2003), or that constitutes "fighting words," pursuant to Chaplin- 32 sky v. New Hampshire (1942), or fails to adequately address any such 33 event. The term "antisemitism" shall have the same meaning as the work- 34 ing definition for "antisemitism" as provided by the International Holo- 35 caust Remembrance Alliance on May 26, 2016, including the contemporary 36 examples of antisemitism cited by the International Holocaust Remem- 37 brance Alliance. The higher education services corporation of the state 38 of New York shall establish guidelines for determining when a student 39 has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism as well as guidelines 40 for actions that may be taken to restore and/or resume a tuition 41 assistance award; or 42 b. part-time students enrolled at a community college or a public 43 agricultural and technical college in a non-degree workforce credential 44 program directly leading to the employment or advancement of a student 45 in a "significant industry" as identified by the department of labor in 46 its three most recent statewide significant industries reports published 47 preceding the student's enrollment in such non-degree workforce creden- 48 tial program. The state university of New York and the city university 49 of New York shall publish and maintain a master list of all eligible 50 non-degree workforce credential program courses and update such list 51 every semester. Eligible non-degree workforce credential programs shall 52 include those programs less than twelve semester hours, or the equiv- 53 alent, per semester. A student who successfully completes a non-degree 54 workforce credential program and receives part-time tuition assistance 55 program awards pursuant to this paragraph shall be awarded academic 56 credit by the state university of New York or city university of NewA. 4772 4 1 York upon matriculation into a degree program at such institution, 2 provided that such credit shall be equal to the corresponding credit 3 hours earned in the non-degree workforce credential program; and 4 provided, further, that no part-time tuition assistance award shall be 5 provided to any student, in any academic year, who has knowingly engaged 6 in promoting antisemitism in a manner that is directed to inciting or 7 producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce 8 such action, that constitutes "true threats," as defined by the United 9 States supreme court in Virginia v. Black (2003), or that constitutes 10 "fighting words," pursuant to Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942), or 11 fails to adequately address any such event. The term "antisemitism" 12 shall have the same meaning as the working definition for "antisemitism" 13 as provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May 14 26, 2016, including the contemporary examples of antisemitism cited by 15 the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The higher education 16 services corporation of the state of New York shall establish guidelines 17 for determining when a student has knowingly engaged in promoting anti- 18 semitism as well as guidelines for actions that may be taken to restore 19 and/or resume a tuition assistance award. 20 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
