Nov 21, 2013 09:52 AM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of Colorado had banned discrimination based on political affiliation on their campus, Fox News reported.

The policy, which may be the first of its kind for any public college or university, will give greater protection those who speak their minds on campus, especially conservatives on the predominately liberal campus who might fear a backlash from faculty and students for expressing their views in the classroom.

The measure was sponsored by two Republicans and was unanimously passed by the Board of Regents.

"This just wasn't a Republican or conservative initiative," Regent Sue Sharkey told Fox News. "Rather, we as a board came together as Democrats and Republicans to be unified." 

According to Sharkey, the policy covers students and faculty to "ensure... we were honoring their First Amendment rights and they could speak out on their political views and not feel they would be discriminated against based on that."

Sharkey was fervent about passing the legislation because members of the campus community told her about feeling diminished or silenced, unable to comfortably express their views.

The regents have also passed a resolution to conduct a campus survey examining discrimination and how pervasive it is on campus.

"Rather than having just anecdotal stories from students or faculty, we really want to find out how broad this is," Sharkey said.

Attorney David Lane, who represented Ward Churchill, a former professor who was fired in 2007 shortly after referring to victims of the 9/11 attacks as "little Eichmanns" - a reference to the Nazi, said he wished the policy was around when his client needed that protection.

"It's called the First Amendment ... but I fully support the concept that people should not lose their jobs, their government jobs on a government campus, like the University of Colorado, based on their ideas or their speech. I'm all in favor of that," Lane told Fox News.

When a student or faculty member feels like they are being discriminated against for their views they will be able to file a complaint with the office of non-discrimination and have it investigated.

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