Berkeley, Calif. — In a flurry of activity, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California signed two bills of interest to colleges and universities on Sunday, but vetoed a bill that would have created a new accountability system for the state’s public colleges. The approved measures establish protections for student-newspaper advisers and outlaw tactics some animal-rights protesters have used against academic researchers.

Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican, had declined to act on most bills that reached his desk during the state’s 85-day budget standoff. He vetoed more than 200 bills over the weekend, saying he would approve only bills that were “the highest priority,” and he has until Tuesday to decide on hundreds more.

The governor signed a bill, SB 1370, that will prohibit administrators at high schools and colleges from retaliating against newspaper advisers who are acting solely to protect a student’s free speech. The bill was promoted by lawmakers who said colleges in the state had at times punished instructors because of the content of student publications.

He also signed a bill to protect academic researchers, AB 2296, passed in response to attacks on and threats against researchers in the state by animal-rights extremists. The bill seeks to prevent protesters from distributing photographs and home addresses of university researchers by prohibiting anyone from publishing such information with the intent to aid in a violent crime.

Threats against researchers and their families put “the potential for innovative thought and new medical therapies” in jeopardy, the bill’s author, Assemblyman Gene Mullin, said in a written statement on Monday. “The signing of AB 2296 sends a message that California recognizes its researchers and their families need to be protected from threats of violence,” said Mr. Mullin, a Democrat.

The rejected academic accountability measure, SB 325, would have established statewide educational goals for the state’s three higher-education systems and tracked data on whether those goals were being met. The president of the University of California, Mark G. Yudof, recently endorsed the statewide effort and has pushed a new accountability process for the 10 campuses in his system.

In a written statement that accompanied his veto, Governor Schwarzenegger said he supported the idea of a statewide accountability system, but rejected the measure because it did not include “incentives or consequences that would modify behavior.” He added that he would consider a future measure that provided “adequate mechanisms” for bringing about tangible gains in student-learning outcomes. —Josh Keller