By snoadmin
Imagine, if you will, a time when students and teachers are no longer able to question in public university classrooms the value of democracy, capitalism, pluralism and religious tolerance. Think of a school whose curriculum is so sanitized by the government that any discussion or lecture that “denigrates American values and the teachings of Western civilization” could face losing state aid.
Doesn’t sound like the America we know now, does it?
Well it’s not. It’s Arizona. Our neighbor. The Grand Canyon State.
New legislation, SB 1108 in Arizona is threatening the First Amendment right to gather and speak freely.
The Arizona House of Representatives amendment to SB 1108 – actually a rider to an appropriations bill – implicitly accuses such groups of being anti-American and potential hubs of terrorist activity.
The proposed law would ban ethnic studies classes from teaching controversial material in classrooms and the formation of groups “based in whole or in part on race-based criteria,” according to the East Valley Tribune.
Although this bill is directed at the MEChA in Arizona, ethnic groups at college campuses all across Arizona are in danger of being censored if this bill passes.
This kind of unconstitutional crap makes us want to think Arizona is not even part of the continental U.S. It makes us want to become anti-Arizona.
Conversations over ethnic, historical, and political differences would be in danger of not having a neutral ground for debate, nor would the presence of these groups be welcomed on public school campuses, including community colleges and universities. Higher education has always been a place devoted to discussion of controversial issues.
One clause in SB 1108 would prohibit organizations that do not “promote political, religious, ideological or cultural beliefs” or that “denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization.”
Prohibiting groups from discussing issues that may conflict with “American values” and “the teachings of Western values” contradicts everything the First Amendment stands for.
The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights is positioned as the gatekeeper to the Constitution. Chipping away at its protections could eventually mean we can’t practice the other democratic safety measures covered by the First Amendment.
We must be vigilant of attempts to tamper with its security, or a blatantly nativist law like Arizona’s SB 1108 could find its way to a nearby campus – which would be suppressing your constitutional rights.
