Arizona State Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) told The Arizona Sun Times that he was “gratified” Governor Katie Hobbs signed his bill, HB 2178, into law Wednesday, enabling students to defund university clubs and organizations calling for genocide.
On Thursday, Kolodin told The Sun Times, “This is something that conservative organizations like Turning Point and my good friend Austin Smith have been working on for a number of years and it is a privilege to be the one to finally get it across the finish line. And it is especially meaningful to me, as a Jew, that we could finally address the grave injustice of Jewish students being forced to fund calls for their own genocide.”
Kolodin announced in a press release that Hobbs signed the bipartisan bill and explained, “With the enactment of HB 2178, we’re upholding the cherished American values of freedom and personal choice.” He added that the legislation “respects the individual rights and choices of our public university students, ensuring that every student has the freedom to withhold support from organizations that do not align with their values and beliefs. It comes at an important time too, as Jewish students increasingly face harassment and discrimination on university campuses. This new law will help to make campuses welcoming for all students, irrespective of their backgrounds or beliefs.”
In an Arizona House GOP Facebook post, Kolodin (pictured above) commented, “The Arizona House GOP will always stand against people being forced to violate their conscience and with the Jewish people!” He also expressed his thanks. “I want to express my appreciation also for my fellow conservative Austin Smith and occasionally reasonable Democrats like Laura Terech for helping get this done,” he said.
HB 2178 states, “Each university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona Board of Regents that allocates student fee monies to support the activities of individual university-recognized student organizations or clubs” must “provide each student who is charged fees with a reasonable opportunity to select one or more student organizations or clubs, or both, to which the university may not allocate the student’s pro rata share of the fee monies.”
On Monday, the United Campus Workers of Arizona (UCW-Arizona), a 501(c)5 labor union based in Tucson, urged its supporters on Twitter (X) to sign a petition asking Hobbs to veto the bill, stating that “[a]long with student governments, United Campus Workers of Arizona opposes House Bill 2178. This bill threatens to defund student activities and student government bodies. If students choose where their fees go, student governments may lose the ability to ensure that all students, clubs, and organizations are able to exercise their freedom of speech equally.”
UCW-Arizona also called the legislation “…an overt attack on free speech and democracy at our public higher education institutions.”
However, in a recent Twitter (X) post, Kolodin referred to the pro-Palestine activist organization at Arizona State University, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), whose protests and rhetoric have caused serious concerns for Jewish students.
“From now on Jews will no longer have to fund SJP if they don’t want to,” he said.
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Debra McClure is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Debra on X / Twitter.
Photo “Alexander Kolodin” by Alexander Kolodin. Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Wars. CC BY-SA 3.0.
