Democrats and Republicans on a legislative panel clashed over free speech on Arizona’s largest university campus Tuesday and will likely resume the fight into next year’s session.
Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, wants Arizona State University to investigate the events surrounding a February speaking engagement featuring three conservatives, which faculty of Barrett Honors College condemned, and provide an investigative report within 60 days. Kern also wants to know how ASU plans to address the issue and he’s going to bring it up again in the Senate Judiciary Committee that he chairs.
Republicans and Democrats on the Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Committee on Freedom of Expression at Arizona’s Public Universities disagreed on whether ASU violated its own policies on free speech when the T.W. Lewis Center at ASU’s Barrett the Honors College hosted talk show host Dennis Prager, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and author Robert Kiyosaki in February. The lawmakers also disagreed on party lines on whether hate speech is protected.
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