Even though the bill pending in the California legislature to protect media advisers from punishment based on what their students publish has not yet become law, the University of California announced this week that it won’t comply with the law’s requirements if it is enacted.

In a letter dated June 16 sent to Sen. Leland Yee, SB 1370’s primary sponsor, the University Office of the President announced that the University of California Board of Regents would be “unlikely to adopt” the provisions of the bill for enforcement on the university system’s 10 campuses.

Senior Legislative Director Happy Chastain explained in the letter the University’s tortured reasoning for rejecting the bill’s provisions. According to Chastain, the University has to protect its ability to take appropriate measures if a faculty member fails to observe instruction standards. The letter cites as a hypothetical example a math instructor who allowed a student to promote opinions unrelated to the subject during class time, suggesting that under the law, the university would be prohibited from punishing the teacher for tolerating the disruptive student speech. Of course, the letter never explains why the University believes that off-topic student speech in the classroom would be protected by the law in the first place, a requirement for the university employee protections of the bill to come into play.

Because the University of California Board of Regents is established by the state constitution, the courts have held that it has protection from some laws enacted by the state legislature. But this letter appears to be the first indication that the University believes the provisions of this bill (and, by implication, the underlying law protecting student free expression and free press rights enacted in 1992 which SB 1370 seeks to amend) cannot be enforced against it. The university’s suggestion that it can ignore Education Code section 66301 (also known as the “Leonard Law” based on its sponsor) 16 years after its enactment will likely be news to free speech advocates in the state and around the nation.

Although the letter states that the University “feels strongly about academic and speech freedoms,” the position taken suggests “not really.” I would expect that it is only a matter of time before censored University of California students or advisers, with assistance of the Student Press Law Center, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education or the American Civil Liberties Union, take the university to court to prove that Education Code section 66301 does protect their rights.

And despite this disturbing twist, SB 1370 appears close to passage. The bill, which would protect school employees at public and private high schools and colleges, was approved by the state Assembly on the same day the University sent its letter, June 16. A slightly different version of the bill passed the state Senate 35-2 in April. If the Senate approves the amendments included by the Assembly, the bill will be on its way to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature. (No indication from “the Governator” whether he supports the bill, but one would hope being married to a former journalist is an indication of likely support.)