SB 1612 misses the point
Via fellow Cactus Alliance member Arizona Watchtower, there’s a new bill in the Arizona Senate which seeks to ban teachers from giving political opinions or endorsements in class. In separate areas of the bill for K-12 teachers and public college or university instructors, the bill declares that such instructors may not in "working in their official capacity":
- Endorse, support or oppose any candidate or nominee for local, state or federal public office or any elected or appointed local, state or federal official.
- Endorse, support or oppose any pending, proposed or enacted local, state or federal legislation, regulation or rule.
- Endorse, support or oppose any pending or proposed litigation in a local, state or federal court or endorse, support or oppose any judicial action taken by a local, state or federal court.
- Advocate one side of a social, political or cultural issue that is a matter of partisan controversy.
- Endorse, support or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the lawful access of military recruiters to campus.
- Endorse, support or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the actions of local, state or federal law enforcement.
On the free speech side of things, there is this part:
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as denying the civil and political liberties of any person as guaranteed by the United States and Arizona Constitutions.
This only looks like an attempt at sobering the public and the court system, not the execution of the law. The potential of violating freedom of speech in the execution of this law is very real. As I’ve stated before, the problem is not teachers who happen to state opinions in class; there is a problem when teachers give opinion as truth and expect students to follow suit at the cost of their grades. This bill goes beyond that while failing to address institutional bias against instructors holding conservative views.
Strangely, the term "official capacity" is not defined in the bill. One provision that does need passing is one that would prevent instructors from using the title of a leadership position in order to state an official opinion of a public educational institution or one of its parts. Case in point: Francisco Gonzalez, who speaking in an official capacity as the assistant director of the UA’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office has written countless times (Search: 1|2) on political issues for which he ought to be using the title "UA staff member" so as not to give an official position.
As for speaking in the classroom, while teachers are acting in an "official capacity" while performing their jobs, it is a far cry from speaking as an official representative of the institution’s political opinion. For failing to engage actual issues of academic and institutional bias in favor of looking good to casual conservatives who don’t read the text of bills, SB 1612 earns my opposition.
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