Title 6 — Education

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Student Due Process and Protection Act”.

(1) The General Assembly finds that:(1) The United States Supreme Court held in “Goss v. Lopez”, 419 U.S. 565, 574 (1975), that when a right is protected by the Due Process Clause, a state may not withdraw the right “on grounds of misconduct absent fundamentally fair procedures t…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Disciplinary proceeding” means a hearing, appeal, or investigatory interview conducted by an institution's administrator relating to an alleged serious violation of the code of student conduct;(2) (A) “Fully participate” means the opportunity f…

(a) (1) The procedural protections established by this subchapter shall apply only to a serious violation.(2) An institution shall not impose a sanction of suspension or expulsion for a violation of a nonacademic rule under an institution's student code of conduct unless the proc…

(a) (1) Nothing in this subchapter precludes an institution from providing at any time an individualized service to an accused student or an accusing student that is nondisciplinary, nonpunitive, reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the accused student or accusing s…

(a) If a student or student organization's rights under this subchapter have been violated, the student or student organization may file a claim with the Arkansas State Claims Commission to recover:(1) Compensatory damages;(2) Attorney's fees;(3) Expert witness fees; and(4) Monet…

(a) (1) A student or student organization shall bring suit for a violation of this subchapter not later than one (1) year after the day the cause of action occurred.(2) For purposes of calculating the one-year limitation period, the cause of action shall be deemed accrued on the …

(1) The General Assembly finds that:(1) The First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 2, § 6, of the Arkansas Constitution protect the right of free speech, including the speech of students enrolled in state-supported institutions of higher education and other…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Campus community” means the same as defined in § 6-60-1003(2);(2) “Campus forum” means:(A) An outdoor area of campus as defined in § 6-60-1003(7); or(B) Any nonacademic and publicly open portion of a facility that a state-supported institution …

(a) A state-supported institution of higher education shall not limit or restrict the expression of a member of the campus community in a campus forum based on the:(1) Viewpoint of the expression; or(2) Reaction or opposition from listeners to or observers of the expression. (1) …

(a) Nothing in this subchapter shall be interpreted as:(1) Giving a member of the campus community the right to disrupt a previously scheduled or otherwise reserved activity;(2) Authorizing a member of the campus community to disregard a policy of the state-supported institution …

(1) Each state-supported institution of higher education shall promulgate and implement a policy that:(1) Protects the rights established by this subchapter; and(2) Allows a member of the campus community to present his or her concerns to an appropriate administrator through a gr…

(1) The General Assembly recognizes that:(1) The First Amendment of the United States Constitution robustly protects the right to speak without government interference, but not to compel others to adopt, affirm, or adhere to specific beliefs;(2) The Fourteenth Amendment of the Un…

(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly that administrators, faculty, and other employees of a state-supported institution of higher education maintain nondiscriminatory policies in accordance with Title IV, Title VI, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (b) This s…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Accreditation” means the status of public recognition that an accrediting agency grants to an educational institution;(2) “Accrediting agency” means a legal entity or part of a legal entity that:(A) Conducts accrediting activities; and(B) Makes…

(a) An officer, agent, administrator, employee, teacher, or contractor of a state-supported institution of higher education shall not compel another officer, agent, administrator, employee, teacher, contractor, or student of the state-supported institution of higher education to …

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Direct Admissions Program Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Application requirements” means the forms, payments, or activities that are required to be completed by a student to apply to a state-supported institution of higher education as set by each participating institution;(2) “Eligible student” mean…

(a) There is established the Arkansas Direct Admissions Program. (b) The program shall:(1) Begin implementation with the high school graduating class of 2026-2027;(2) Establish:(A) Provisional admissions criteria, including without limitation:(i) Grade point average;(ii) Assessme…

(a) A public school district or open-enrollment public charter school may opt to participate in the Arkansas Direct Admissions Program. (b) A participating public school shall provide student data to the Division of Higher Education that includes without limitation:(1) Grade poin…

The Division of Higher Education may promulgate rules to implement this subchapter.

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Research and Education Protection Act of 2025”.

The purpose of this subchapter is to protect Arkansas's research and educational systems from the malign influence of foreign adversaries.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Affiliate organization” means an entity under the control of or established for the benefit of an organization required to report under this subchapter, including without limitation a direct-support organization;(2) “Agreement” means a written …

(a) (1) An institution of higher education that has received directly or indirectly a gift with a value equal to or greater than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) from a foreign adversary after December 31, 2019, shall disclose the gift.(2) The disclosure of a gift re…

(a) An institution of higher education that has been offered directly or indirectly a gift with a value equal to or greater than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) from a foreign adversary after August 5, 2025, shall disclose the proposed gift to the governing board of…

(a) An institution of higher education that has entered directly or indirectly into a contract with a value equal to or greater than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) with a foreign adversary after December 31, 2019, shall disclose the contract to the governing board …

(a) An institution of higher education that has been offered or has proposed directly or indirectly a contract with a value equal to or greater than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) from or with a foreign adversary after August 5, 2025, shall disclose the proposed co…

(a) Upon receiving a referral from a compliance officer of an institution of higher education or a sworn complaint based upon substantive information and reasonable belief as defined in Arkansas law, the Department of Inspector General shall investigate an allegation of a violati…

(a) An institution of higher education shall not participate in a cultural exchange agreement with a foreign adversary or an entity controlled by a foreign adversary unless the institution of higher education:(1) Addresses an overwhelmingly underaddressed state or national need; …

(a) An institution of higher education or affiliate of an institution of higher education that has federal research expenditures of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) or more shall screen applicants who are citizens of a foreign adversary and are not permanent residents of the Uni…

(a) (1) By January 1, 2026, each institution of higher education or affiliate organization of the institution of higher education that has federal research expenditures of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) or more shall establish a foreign adversary travel approval and monitoring…

(a) (1) An institution of higher education shall only enter into a new partnership or renew an existing partnership with a foreign instrumentality if the institution of higher education maintains sufficient structural safeguards to protect the intellectual property of the institu…

A person who engages in willful misappropriation of a trade secret with the intent to benefit a foreign government, a foreign agent, or a foreign instrumentality shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a Class D felony.

(a) A person who violates § 6-60-1813 commits theft of a trade secret and is guilty of a Class D felony. (b) A person who traffics in, or endeavors to traffic in, a trade secret that he or she knows or should know was obtained or used without authorization commits trafficking in …

(a) The governing board of an institution of higher education shall conduct a thorough review of all software and software platforms used by an institution of higher education that may be linked to foreign adversaries. (b) The board shall:(1) Develop a plan to eliminate the usage…

(a) The General Assembly finds that:(1) A historic rise in antisemitic violence, harassment, and discrimination has occurred at institutions of higher education across the United States, targeting Jewish students;(2) In April 2024, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigat…

(1) As used in this section:(1) “Antisemitism” means the same as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in its working definition of antisemitism, including its contemporary examples, as it was adopted on May 26, 2016; and(2) “Institution of higher education”…

(a) Each institution of higher education shall treat harassment or discrimination that is motivated by or includes antisemitic intent by a student enrolled in the institution of higher education or an individual employed by the institution of higher education or that is a result …

Each institution of higher education shall comply with monitoring and reporting requirements under § 6-16-2104.

(a) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Arkansas Constitution, Article 2, §§ 4, 6, and 24. (b) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to conflict with …

This subchapter shall be known as the “Arkansas Rural Preceptorship Program Act”.

(a) (1) The Arkansas Rural Preceptorship Program is established to help provide funding for preceptorship programs in rural communities throughout the state.(2) The Arkansas Rural Preceptorship Program established under subdivision (a)(1) of this section shall provide an opportun…

(a) The board of trustees of each educational institution of higher education supported, in whole or in part, by the State of Arkansas, shall have the right to adopt rules for the admission and enrollment of students in the respective institutions of higher education under the co…

(a) It is declared to be the policy of this state that qualified students enrolled in a public or private high school in this state shall upon request be accepted for enrollment in a public institution of higher education as part-time students. (b) For purposes of this section, “…

In order to provide needed off-campus services to Arkansas citizens who do not happen to reside in the location of the main campus of a college or university, the Division of Higher Education is instructed to count and otherwise treat off-campus class enrollments consistent with …

(a) When any person sixty (60) years of age or older is admitted to and enrolls as a student in any state-supported institution of higher education in this state, the board of trustees of the institution or other appropriate institutional officials shall waive all the general stu…

(1) Regardless of residence, a state-supported institution of higher education, trade school, or vocational school shall classify a student as in-state, in-county, in-district, local, or resident for the purpose of tuition and fees applicable for all programs of study, including …

A.C.A. § 6-60-206Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) The General Assembly hereby acknowledges that too often, persons enrolled in institutions of higher education do not appreciate the value of their postsecondary educational experience and, following a brief history of poor and failing grades, such persons decide to pursue…