Arizona lawmakers seek to make campus protest 'encampments' illegal

PHOENIX — State lawmakers are preparing to make it illegal to set up “encampments’’ on community college and university campuses — complete with language forcing university officials to enforce it.

Legislation awaiting a final Senate vote would ban anyone from setting up temporary shelters, including tents that are used to remain on campus overnight or “for a prolonged period of time.’’

Its prime sponsor, Tucson Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez, said it’s in response to pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests last year in Arizona. While nowhere near as long as more highly publicized incidents at places like Columbia University, she said the Arizona protests led to Jewish students feeling harassed or being forced to take alternate routes through campus.

But the plan is provoking some opposition from lawmakers who call it “unconstitutionally vague’’ and a threat to free speech rights.

There is no question that House Bill 2880 would prohibit multi-day encampments. Less clear, according to some, is what else would be forbidden.

Rep. Analise Ortiz pointed out during debate this past week that it would ban shelters for a “prolonged’’ period of time, something not defined in the legislation.

“Students could be criminally charged and punished for setting up installations that are not meant to serve as overnight structures,’’ said the Phoenix Democrat.

Consider, she said, sun shade structures that could be set up by Turning Point USA, a conservative organization that is trying to register college and university students to vote.

“Could they be banned from doing that for a ‘prolonged period of time’ because this doesn’t define exactly what that means?’’ Ortiz asked. She said it also could endanger Native American students setting up tepees on campus to celebrate their culture, or even the farmers’ market that is set up on the University of Arizona campus.

Sen. John Kavanagh sniffed at the idea that what’s in HB 2880 would outlaw any of those activities.

The Fountain Hills Republican said he reads the legislation as banning only those tents and structures that are not transient. At issue, Kavanagh said, are encampments that restrict the rights of other students.

“These people are taking public university land and appropriating it, seizing it for themselves so other people can’t use it,’’ he said. Kavanagh said there have been cases elsewhere where anti-Semitic groups “are intimidating Jewish students and removing their right to free movement around the campus.’’

That answer didn’t satisfy Ortiz. She said if Kavanagh believes the measure is designed only to outlaw overnight camping, then it should not also include the more nebulous and undefined restrictions about setting up tents for a prolonged period.

“ ‘Prolonged’ means a long time,’’ Kavanagh responded, saying he was satisfied with that language. And in a bid to test whether that was her key objection, he asked Ortiz if she would support the bill if it was amended to outlaw only overnight camping.

She would not respond.

Rep. Kevin Payne rejected the idea that the measure could be interpreted in a way to restrict otherwise legitimate activity.

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“Farmers’ markets at 4 in the morning?’’ he said. “That seems a little odd.’’

But Sen. Lauren Kuby urged colleagues not to impose new restrictions on campuses.

“These spaces are long-standing spaces for public discourse, academic inquiry and political dissent,’’ said the Tempe Democrat.

She cited her own experiences at the University of Chicago, where she went to school in the 1970s during protests across the campus.

“It amounted to a learning opportunity for people to really understand the issues and the unprecedented threats we had towards peace in those days,’’ Kuby said. “Public education has to remain a robust space for dialogue, not a testing ground for censorship and retaliation.’’

She also rejected the argument that the legislation is needed to combat anti-semitism.

“These bills that we’re hearing are not only unnecessary,’’ Kuby said. “They’re political overreaches that will endanger students’ rights and public trust.’’

The University of Arizona brought in law enforcement to break up the pro-Palestinian encampments last year in the middle of the night, enforcing a 10 p.m. campus curfew.

There also already is a law governing free speech on campuses that allows universities to impose “reasonable viewpoint and content-neutral restrictions on time, place and manner of expression’’ that are necessary to “achieve a compelling institutional interest.’’

HB 2880, however, appears to be stricter.

It not only bars any encampment but requires the university or college president to direct those involved to immediately dismantle it and also advise them the failure to do so makes them guilty of criminal trespass. If participants do not comply, the president must report them to law enforcement.

“This bill would force campus police to enforce a prohibition on encampments, even if the police believe it is not in the interest of public safety,’’ Ortiz said.

The legislation also requires that disciplinary action be taken against students who refuse to leave.

Hernandez said nothing in her legislation prohibits people from protesting. Instead, she said, it is designed to bar structures she said already are prohibited on campus.

“This is to ensure we are creating a safe environment for all students,’’ she said.

HB 2880 is expected to have a roll-call vote in the Senate this coming week. It cleared the House earlier this month on a 41-17 margin, with some lawmakers from both parties in opposition.