Arizona (2006)
Senate Bill 1331 states that “each university under the jurisdiction of
the Arizona board of regents and each community college under the
jurisdiction of a community college district shall adopt procedures by
which students who object to any course, coursework, learning material
or activity on the basis that it is personally offensive shall be
provided without financial or academic penalty an alternative course,
alternative coursework, alternative learning materials or alternative
activity. Objection to a course, coursework, learning material or
activity on the basis that it is personally offensive includes
objections that the course, coursework, learning material or activity
conflicts with the student's beliefs or practices in sex, morality or
religion.” Though not endorsed by David Horowitz, the bill was seen as
an outgrowth of his campaign for an “Academic Bill of Restrictions.”
Educators, students and free speech advocates opposed the bill because
of the chilling effect it would have on education. If faculty were
required to provide alternate materials to any student that objected,
it would either make class impossible to teach given that students
would be reading from multiple texts. Faculty would then have no
choice but to cut any content that could potentially be objected to in
order for their classes to be logistically possible to teach.Back to Archive
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