HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut officials are considering repealing a century-old state law that bans ridiculing people based on race, religion and other factors, because of free speech concerns.
The legislation is in response to the arrests of two University of Connecticut students accused of breaking the 1917 law by saying a racial slur in a campus apartment complex parking lot last fall.
Free speech advocates say that while the students' comments were offensive, they were not criminal.
The state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities is urging lawmakers to keep the law at a time when hate and bias incidents are increasing.
