Not all conservatives are celebrating.
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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation on Wednesday to protect freedom of speech on his state’s college campuses, scoring another victory for the rising influential Goldwater Institute despite criticisms of the bill from conservatives.
According to the think tank, the measure mandates the “Arizona Board of Regents and each community college district governing board to create and adopt a policy that recognizes the importance of free speech and creates a framework for disciplinary provisions for those who repeatedly violate others’ First Amendment rights,” according to a Goldwater press statement .
However, not all conservatives are celebrating.
“The state is on the verge of making a fool of itself by passing a law that directly contradicts its ban on free speech zones,” The College Fix’s Greg Piper wrote last week .
“This is a roadmap for random, arbitrary, retaliatory and self-interested censorship of students who are doing little more than advocating for capitalism, peacefully protesting an alleged university takeover of their organization or even inviting passers-by to write on their beach ball,” Piper said.
“In other words, a godsend for administrators,” he added.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has also expressed alarm, writing that lawmakers changed the legislation from “A university or community college shall not restrict a student’s right to speak…” to “A university or community college may restrict a student’s right to speak…”
The Goldwater Institute has scored many significant victories recently on both the state and federal level. As an example of the former, the statement noted that “North Carolina enacted the Institute’s legislation in 2017, and related legislation is in the works in several other states.”
“Additionally, the University of Wisconsin and the University of North Carolina adopted Goldwater’s policies to protect speech last year,” it added.
An example of the latter is the House of Representatives passing “Right to Try” legislation last month, which allows terminally ill patients to try a drug that passed initial testing. The bill goes to the Senate with a law all but guaranteed, according to Politico.
Jackson Richman is a fellow for IJR Red. He is also an editor for The National Discourse. His bylines have appeared in The Weekly Standard, The Washin… more
