Arizona lawmakers form committee to investigate free speech at public universities

A Republican-led legislative committee will investigate freedom of expression at Arizona's public universities, according to documents from state lawmakers describing the new effort.

The formation of the committee comes just weeks after Ann Atkinson, the former director of an Arizona State University center devoted to personal development and conservative values, publicly alleged that she lost her job after bringing several right-wing speakers to campus in February for an event titled "Health, Wealth and Happiness."

The university has strongly denied that claim, saying the center shut down because the donor who created and funded it, Tom Lewis, pulled his donation.

"Mr. Lewis decided to discontinue funding that paid for more than $300,000 per year in salary and benefits costs for the executive director of the now-dissolved center," university officials said in a statement issued Friday. "But the speaker series and classes that were created by the center will continue at ASU, and the faculty who delivered that content through the center will continue to do so."

All three of Arizona's public universities — ASU, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University — boast "green light" speech ratings from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, an organization that advocates for more freedom of speech on college campuses. FIRE annually analyzes the policies that regulate student expression at nearly 500 colleges and universities across the country, with the "green light" rating being the highest a school can receive.

The Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees all three universities, also has its own permanent committee on free expression.

Nonetheless, legislators will launch the committee with a Tuesday morning meeting featuring Atkinson as a speaker, along with conservative radio show hosts Dennis Prager and Seth Leibsohn. Rep. Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, and Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, will serve as committee co-chairs.

“Arizona’s public universities must be unfettered bastions of free speech and expression," Nguyen said. "I’m very concerned to see an administrator terminated after coordinating to have conservatives speak on campus. I look forward to hearing from university leadership as to why this happened and what ought to be done to rectify the situation.”

Atkinson, Prager and Leibsohn will also be joined by Owen Anderson, a current professor of philosophy and religious studies at ASU who has written extensively on his website and on social media about his concerns regarding the loss of academic freedom at universities and the influence of "Rousseau, Marx and Freud" on secular professors. On his website, Anderson identifies himself as a Christian pastor.

"I have been speaking out about how my college at ASU has employee training classes teaching radical gender ideology and has tried to change our bylaws to include that our syllabi are evaluated by antiracist and decolonizing philosophies," he tweeted Thursday evening. "I will testify before the Arizona Legislature on Tuesday not as a representative of ASU but as a subject expert on the First Amendment and as a concerned citizen."

'Health, Wealth and Happiness': ASU denies center shut because of right-wing speakers, says pulled funding was the cause

Three ASU administrators will attend the meeting, according to the university: Executive Vice Provost Pat Kenney, Vice President of Student Services Joanne Vogel and Deputy General Counsel Kim Demarchi.

"It's incredibly important that our state's universities support their students and guests sharing their opinions and viewpoints," Kern said. "We want to create an environment for individuals involved in this situation to share their sides of the story to better understand what occurred with this program and the impacts it may have had on future freedom of expression."

University officials said they are fully committed to freedom of speech and expression on campus, pointing to previous conservative speakers such as former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Tim Gionet, a far-right social media personality known as "Baked Alaska."

"The Health, Wellness and Happiness event that has drawn so much attention is an event that happened, was well attended and was successful," according to ASU's statement. "The controversy surrounding it and the opinions expressed in opposition to it are also examples of free speech. The university environment allowed all to be heard."

Board of Regents Chair Fred DuVal said he welcomed the legislative review.

"Free speech is a right afforded every person in our country and the board and universities take every measure to promote and protect it on our campuses," he said.

Who else is on the committee?

Six Republicans and four Democrats have been selected to serve on the committee.

Besides Kern and Nguyen, the Republican slate includes Rep. Beverly Pingerelli of Peoria, Rep. Austin Smith of Wittmann, Sen. Frank Carroll of Sun City West and Sen. J.D. Mesnard of Chandler.

Sen. Sally Ann Gonzalez, D-Tucson, and Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, as well as Rep. Analise Ortiz, D-Phoenix, and Rep. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa, will also sit on the committee.

Sasha Hupka covers higher education for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip on Arizona's universities, community colleges or trade schools? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SashaHupka.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona lawmakers to investigate free speech at public universities