Arizona bill to extend ethnic-studies ban to universities dies

• A bill that would have expanded Arizona's controversial ethnic-studies ban to cover university and community-college courses appears to be dead
• The House Education Committee chairman said he would not hear House Bill 2120, effectively halting its progress
• Thorpe had said taxpayers shouldn't have to fund "divisive" classes that "cater(ed) a particular message" to specific groups, while students and professors contended the classes are "empowering" and instructive

A bill to expand Arizona's ethnic-studies ban to cover university and community-college courses is dead for now, just days after it was proposed.

Republican Rep. Paul Boyer, House Education Committee chairman from Phoenix, confirmed Tuesday he had refused to grant House Bill 2120 a hearing.

Bills must get a public hearing in the committee to which they are assigned to advance.

Rep. Bob Thorpe on Wednesday declined to comment directly on his bill's swift death, instead focusing on how he had "started a nationwide, if not international, debate on the whole notion of social justice."

The Flagstaff Republican's legislation — written with help from "two black Tucson, Arizonans with kids in college," he said — aimed to broaden a state law forbidding K-12 instructors from teaching classes that promote "resentment toward a race or class of people."

The expanded law would have prohibited classes, events and activities that promoted "division, resentment or social justice toward a race, gender, religion, political affiliation, social class or other class" at both the K-12 and college level, in addition to those "designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group."

Schools that violated the ban would have lost up to 10 percent of their state funding.

Thorpe — along with Oro Valley Republican Rep. Mark Finchem, who co-sponsored the bill — contends taxpayers shouldn't pay for "divisive" classes that "cater a particular message" to specific groups.

But students and professors argue the classes are "empowering" and instructive, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the country's past and future.

"Whether they're talking about it positively or negatively … it certainly has opened a dialogue," Thorpe said. "Wouldn't it be interesting to see if other states all of a sudden pick up this idea and maybe move forward with it? Wouldn't it be interesting to see if maybe next session we can move forward with something like this?"

Divisive or empowering? New Arizona bill would extend ethnic-studies ban to universities

Opponents said they fear a revival of HB 2120, though higher-education officials have questioned the feasibility of implementing comparable legislation.

"Obviously, we were very happy with Rep. Boyer's decision not to hear the bill," said Randy Perez, a student-activist at Arizona State University. "However, we don't think this fight is over.

"The Arizona GOP has a history of trying to slip strikers by late in the legislative session, and we worry that could still happen and lead to a ban," he said.

A "strike everything," or striker, amendment involves removing a bill's language and replacing it with new wording about an unrelated topic. It gives legislators whose bills could not secure a public hearing a second chance to try to get their efforts through later in the legislative session.

Thorpe already this session introduced another bill with the same goal, but Boyer said he won't give that bill a public hearing, either. HB 2119 proposed to give the Attorney General's Office the authority to strip schools of 10 percent of their funding if the school violates state law or the Arizona Constitution.

The wording is similar to successful legislation passed last year to strip funds from cities and counties found in violation of a state law. Thorpe said he may make one more attempt to address the issue this session, possibly by introducing a bill to expand last year's law to universities.