Nguyen Outlines Possible Legislation Tackling Free Speech Issues at Arizona Universities

Arizona State Rep. Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, told an audience in Scottsdale on Wednesday about what actions Republican lawmakers may take in the next session targeting public universities on free speech issues.

“We actually drafted quite a few things, including changes to ABOR – Arizona Board of Regents – to sort of make things a little tighter,” he said on a panel at the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council’s annual summit. 

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Charlie Kirk, Dennis Prager Set to Return to Arizona State University as Legislators Promise More Hearings

Conservative leaders Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager are scheduled to return to Arizona State University (ASU) for the “Health, Wealth & Happiness 2.0” event on Wednesday. The first event, held in 2022,  sparked fierce opposition from faculty and staff, which in turn provoked hearings in the Arizona Legislature.

Prager and Kirk will host the event alongside Tom Lewis, a former ASU donor who was the primary benefactor of the T.W. Lewis Center where the first event was held last year. Ann Atkinson, who was the director of the center at ASU, and State Representative Austin Smith (R-Surprise), will also speak at the event.

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Arizona State University Releases Report over Conservative Event Backlash

After Arizona State University released a report suggesting there was “no evidence” of a campaign to smear an event featuring conservative speakers, one Republican state senator is not satisfied with the outcome.

The T.W. Lewis Center at the school hosted an event in February with conservative media personalities Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk, as well as financial author Robert Kiyosaki. The event sparked backlash from some faculty at Barrett, the Honors College, and some students. Following the intense backlash, Tom Lewis pulled funding for the center and its executive director, Ann Atkinson, lost her job, alleging she was fired.

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Arizona State University Professors Sent ‘Harassing Emails’ Asking to Join TPUSA Professor Watchlist

Arizona State University (ASU) professors who signed a letter labeling conservatives Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk “purveyors of hate” and seeking to cancel their February 2023 appearance at the university’s now-defunct T.W. Lewis Center seemed to relish in their actions, sending emails to the center’s former executive director asking to be publicly named for their participation.

Former T.W. Lewis Center executive director Ann Atkinson provided emails to The Arizona Sun Times sent by two ASU professors who teach at Barrett, the university’s honors College where the center was housed, including two from a professor seeking to join the Professor Watchlist maintained by Turning Point USA (TPUSA).

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‘I Was Overwhelmed’: T.W. Lewis Founder Cites ‘Hostile’ ASU Professors After Pulling Funding

Tom Lewis, the founder and primary funder of the now-defunct T.W. Lewis Center at Arizona State University (ASU), revealed that he pulled his annual contribution of $400,000 due to the open hostility showed to conservative speakers by the majority of the institution’s faculty.

Lewis made the remarks during an appearance on The Mike Broomhead Show, describing “a steady beat down of realization” in which he determined universities “want your donations, but they don’t want your input, and they certainly don’t want your influence in the classroom or even selecting speakers.”

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ASU Theology Professor Warns University Uses ‘DEI Questions’ to ‘Screen’ Professors in Hiring Process

Arizona State University (ASU) theology professor Dr. Owen Anderson claimed the university now uses Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) questions to “screen” and exclude job applicants during the hiring process. Dr. Anderson revealed this information to The Arizona Sun Times when reached to discuss a recent hearing in the Arizona Legislature that examined freedom of expression at the taxpayer-funded institution.

Anderson, who is also a pastor at the Historic Christian Church of Phoenix, told The Sun Times ASU uses “DEI questions in hiring to screen candidates,” which Anderson said “means only candidates that agree with their left wing agenda are hired.”

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Arizona Lawmakers Hold First Committee Hearing Investigating Free Speech at State Public Universities

Republican lawmakers led the first legislative committee hearing on Tuesday to investigate the freedom of speech in Arizona’s public universities and to look into the events surrounding a program titled “Health, Wealth and Happiness,” presented by Arizona State University (ASU)‘s T.W. Lewis Center.

The formation of the committee follows officials at ASU allegedly firing university administrator and director of the T.W. Lewis Center, Ann Atkinson, for bringing conservative speakers Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk onto campus earlier this year for the “Health, Wealth and Happiness” program which focused on professional development and networking.

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Arizona Lawmakers Launch Committee to Investigate Free Speech at Public Universities

Arizona Republican lawmakers have launched a new committee to investigate the freedom of speech in Arizona’s public universities and to look into the events surrounding a program titled “Health, Wealth and Happiness,” presented by Arizona State University’s T.W. Lewis Center.

This follows officials at Arizona State University allegedly firing University administrator and Director of the T.W. Lewis Center, Ann Atkinson, for bringing conservative speakers Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk onto campus earlier this year for the “Health, Wealth and Happiness” program which focused on professional development and networking.

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Major Benefactor Pulls $400,000 Annual Donation from Arizona State University, Cites ‘Left-Wing Hostility and Activism’

A major benefactor is pulling funding from Arizona State University amid the firing of an ASU staff member who hosted an event featuring conservatives Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager.

Tom Lewis of the T.W. Lewis Foundation previously helped fund ASU’s T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development, which is housed in Barrett, The Honors College, at ASU.

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Arizona State University Sees Scrutiny over Conservative Event Backlash

An Arizona lawmaker wants the state’s collegiate governing body to investigate why an Arizona State University employee lost her job shortly after organizing an event featuring conservative speaker. 

State Rep. Austin Smith, R-Surprise, wrote to the Arizona Board of Regents on June 21 following the decision by ASU to terminate the employment of administrator Ann Atkinson.

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Kari Lake, Dennis Prager, Josh Hawley, and More Headline TPUSA’s AmericaFest 2022 on Sunday

Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest continued its second day in Phoenix on Sunday, featuring a long lineup of well-known conservatives. Some of the standouts Sunday included Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is currently fighting the results of a botched election in Arizona which resulted in Democrat Katie Hobbs being named the winner, co-founder of PragerU and talk show host Dennis Prager, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). 

The theme of many of the speakers was to stay positive and avoid the negativity and self-centeredness of the left, see the good in the country, and the values and institutions like marriage and children which formed it. Lake’s speech focused on voter disenfranchisement that occurred in her race, declaring, “My pronouns are ‘I won’” and “election integrity is the single most important issue of our lifetime.” 

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Dennis Prager Commentary: The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Smear Campaign Against PragerU

Dennis Prager

by Dennis Prager   “Antifa” is to violence what the Southern Poverty Law Center is to words. In short, it is a hate group on the left. The SPLC smears individuals and groups it differs with by labeling them as some form of “hater:” “racist,” “white supremacist,” “extremist,” and the like. That it is cited and even relied upon by The New York Times, Facebook, Amazon, Google, CNN, and others, and that Apple gave the organization a million dollars, is testimony to the moral state of mainstream media and corporate culture in America today. Were the SPLC not quoted and used as a source, there would be no reason to pay it any attention. All the SPLC does is politicize, and thereby trivialize, the fight against racism and other evils. Any organization that labels Ayaan Hirsi Ali—the extraordinary Somali-American woman who devotes her life to fighting for oppressed women, especially in the Islamic world—an “extremist,” as the SPLC has done, is not a moral organization. No wonder it just agreed to pay Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz $3.4 million and issued a retraction for smearing him as an “anti-Muslim extremist.” [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American…

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Conservative Talker Dennis Prager Endorses Carol Swain for Nashville Mayor

On Monday, nationally syndicated radio host and PragerU Founder Dennis Prager endorsed former Vanderbilt professor Dr. Carol M. Swain for Mayor of Nashville. In a short video, Prager said of Dr. Swain and her candidacy: I’d just like to say to voters in Nashville, Tennessee, that you have a rare opportunity to have, as your Mayor, one of the most wonderful people living in America today. I very rarely say such things and if I do, I really mean them. This woman is not only good, kind, and brilliant – she has the most rare trait of all: she’s courageous. With she as you Mayor, your city will blossom. I have met a lot of wonderful people. She is about as good as they come. Good luck Nashville; and good luck to the Predators, too. Since Swain announced, she has garnered several high profile endorsements, among them are radio legend and businessman Dick Bott, bestselling author and financial expert Dave Ramsey, Churchill Mortgage founder Mike Hardwick, Fox and Friends host and former Concerned Veterans for America spokesman Pete Hegseth, and bestselling author and conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza. As The Tennessee Star has reported: However, momentum appears to be on Swain’s side. In…

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