Citing antisemitism, Arizona House votes to let students withhold fees

PHOENIX — Saying university students should not have to fund antisemitism, the Arizona House gave preliminary approval Monday to allowing them to keep their mandated fees from going to certain organizations.

The voice vote came after Rep. Alexander Kolodin said Jewish students at the state’s three universities have been encountering “some really virulent groups that call for the destruction of the Jewish people.”

“Now, they (these groups) have every right to do this under the First Amendment,’’ said the Scottsdale Republican, who is Jewish. “But what they don’t have the right to do is force Jewish students to subsidize those calls for their own destruction, and the destruction of their friends and family.’’

Kolodin specifically mentioned Students for Justice for Palestine, which has chapters at all three universities.

He said such groups are entitled to have their views but there is a constitutional right of other students not to have to help finance those views.

The vote for Senate Bill 2178 came over the objections of some lawmakers who said the Arizona Board of Regents has expressed concern about how it would administer such a system.

There were also questions about whether such a measure is necessary, as any overtly antisemitic activities already violate each school’s policies.

Rep. Judy Schwiebert, D-Phoenix, said these issues should be addressed at the university level.

That did not impress Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake. “Those bylaws were being violated left and right due to the protests,” he said.

Marshall also said officials from the universities were asked to testify at a hearing before the House Education Committee.

“They would not respond,’’ he said. “That’s a lack of care.’’

Finn Howe, president of the Arizona State University chapter of Students for Justice for Palestine, denied during committee testimony that his organization is antisemitic. He said its membership includes Jews who take the position that Palestinians are being denied their rights.

Howe also said that denying the groups funds would undermine other programs it conducts, such as bringing labor union officials to campus.

But Kolodin said that, whatever the official position, that doesn’t override the words being spoken at demonstrations he said are supported by such groups.

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“’From the river to the sea’,’’ he said, quoting some of the protesters who seek a state of Palestine where Israel now exists. “And we all know what that means.’’

Kolodin, in promoting the measure on the House floor on Monday, lashed out at those who were not supporting the measure.

“When any other group needs something to protect themselves, we as a body, we view it as ‘this is our duty to protect our fellow Arizonans’,’’ he said. “And, certainly, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are even more vocal about that kind of thing, sometimes in a way that I think they take to an extreme.’’

Kolodin did not cite specifics. But Democrats have taken positions against Republican-sponsored measures they say discriminate against people based on gender, sexual orientation or race.

“But when Jewish students come with a simple request — do not make us fund calls for our own genocide — suddenly there’s a workability problem,’’ he said.

Kolodin said at least part of the fault for this lies with the schools.

“In fact, the university knows very well how to change its bylaws — or ignore them — or its rules when it suits anybody but Jewish students,’’ he said.

He cited policies that, he said, on paper, already prohibit this kind of conduct. “But they are not heeded,’’ Kolodin said. “So do not let workability, do not let the concerns of a specious nature, do not let these be used to blind your eyes to your duty to defend religious liberty and the freedom of Arizona students to practice their religion without having to fund calls for its destruction.’’

ASU did cancel a planned on-campus event last year with U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat who had been censured by the U.S. House for defending Hamas and calling for the destruction of Israel. But school officials said that was not about the content but the fact the speech was being sponsored by the Arizona Palestine Network, which is not an on-campus organization.

Also, UA’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine abruptly canceled a pro-Palestine rally in October after UA President Robert C. Robbins released a statement calling it “antithetical” to the school’s beliefs. The UA group had said it planned to “demand that the US government and University of Arizona disinvest from Israeli apartheid and violence against the Palestinian people.”

Before Monday’s vote, Kolodin said he did recognize there could be logistical issues in letting each student decide which clubs or organizations should receive their share of student fees. So he amended the measure to turn it around.

Now students could list one or more groups that would be denied any part of their fees, with the difference divided up among all the other clubs. There would be no change in the distribution of fees paid by students who made no special request.

A final roll-call vote is needed before the measure goes to the Senate.