Higher Education - Antihate and Antidiscrimination Policies and Workgroup (Maryland Campus Accountability and Modernization to Protect University Students Act)
SB847 requires every institution of higher education in Maryland to adopt, enforce, and submit to the Maryland Higher Education Commission a policy addressing racial, ethnic, and religious violence, harassment, and intimidation. The required policy must cover all students, faculty, administrators, and employees, include training for faculty and staff on responding to hate incidents, and establish complaint, investigation, adjudication, and discipline procedures. The bill also requires institutions to allow anonymous complaints and to provide notice and educational information at the conclusion of the complaint process.
The bill further requires colleges and universities to adopt and publish a time, place, and manner policy for expressive activity on campus, including procedures for responding to disruptions or threats to public safety. Institutions must coordinate with campus security, local law enforcement, and the Maryland State Police to protect approved student organizations that have received threats or have been targeted by hate crimes. Each year, institutions must also designate a senior administrator to meet with approved student organizations, including religiously affiliated groups, to discuss these policies, campus incidents, and other student concerns.
SB847 would add a new subtitle to the Education Article governing antihate and antidiscrimination policies at Maryland institutions of higher education. It would impose new compliance, reporting, training, and campus safety obligations on public and private colleges and universities, while also creating a new Campus Community Grant Program administered by the University System of Maryland Chancellor to support intergroup and interfaith outreach. The bill would require annual institutional reporting to the Commission and a consolidated annual report to the General Assembly, and it would direct the Governor to include a $500,000 appropriation for the grant program in fiscal year 2027.
The bill appears to be framed as a response to concerns about antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate-based harassment on campus, and its structure suggests a strong policy emphasis on student safety, accountability, and institutional responsiveness. Although no committee transcript or vote history is provided, the bill’s detailed mandates and creation of a workgroup indicate an effort to build consensus through model policies and best practices. The overall tone of the legislation is protective and administrative rather than punitive, with an explicit statement that it should not infringe on First Amendment or other constitutional rights.
Likely points of contention include the scope of institutional regulation, especially the required campus expressive-activity policies and the reporting of incidents and complaints, which may raise concerns about free speech, protest activity, and administrative burden. Another possible area of debate is the balance between safety measures and civil liberties, particularly the bill’s requirements for law-enforcement involvement and institutional responses to disruptive expressive conduct. Stakeholders likely to have differing views include student organizations, campus administrators, civil liberties advocates, and faith-based or racial and ethnic community groups, all of whom are expressly implicated in the bill’s policy design and workgroup membership.