Louisiana higher ed systems say their institutions are posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, following orders from Republican lawmakers.<\/p>\n
A Louisiana State University System spokesperson said in an email to Inside Higher Ed that all LSU campuses have either put up the displays or are in the process of doing so. A University of Louisiana System spokesperson said in an email that all of its campuses \u201care actively working through installation logistics\u201d and \u201cintend to have them displayed no later than the start of the fall semester.\u201d Southern University System and Louisiana Community and Technical College System officials didn\u2019t return requests for comment.<\/p>\n
The Louisiana Family Forum, a conservative \u201cfamily policy council<\/a>,\u201d donated the posters, The Louisiana Illuminator reported earlier<\/a>. Republican state attorney general Liz Murrill released four posters<\/a> that can be used\u2014all with the Ten Commandments in the middle, flanked by other information. One, for instance, is titled \u201cThe House of Representatives & the Lawgivers,\u201d in which the religious text has, on its left, an image of the \u201cMoses the Lawgiver\u201d marble relief from the walls of the U.S. House chamber and, on its right, a photo of current U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana.<\/p>\n In 2024, state lawmakers passed House Bill 71<\/a>, and Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed it into law. It requires a poster-size copy of the Decalogue\u2014specifically the King James Bible version<\/a>\u2014in all public classrooms. The law covered K\u201312 schools, colleges, universities and trade schools. <\/p>\n Louisiana families, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, sued to stop HB 71 from going into effect. In late 2024, U.S. District Court Judge John W. deGravelles, an Obama appointee, issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law<\/a>, saying it would infringe on the plaintiffs\u2019 First Amendment rights and \u201cis not neutral toward religion.\u201d <\/p>\n