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Will DEI die at Arizona Universities

Arizona State University Alumni for Free Speech

ASU Alumni for Free Speech will host a virtual event with Goldwater attorney Stacey Skankey

Jun 25, 2025

Welcome to the June edition of the Free Speech Report — a monthly newsletter produced by ASU Alumni for Free Speech. Below you’ll find highlights, news articles, and community spotlights to stay informed on our latest activities. Thanks for your interest in our work.

Join ASU Alumni for Free Speech and Goldwater Institute attorney Stacy Skankey for a deep dive into the state of free speech on Arizona campuses, specifically taking a look at Anderson v. Arizona Board of Regents, a case that could upend Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies at Arizona’s public universities.

This event will include a presentation about the Anderson case by Stacy Skankey, a Q&A portion moderated by Joe Pitts, and audience Q&A. Members are encouraged to invite guests to attend!

EVENT: Free Speech on Campus: A Deep Dive Into the Anderson Case

WHEN: Monday, July 7th from 5:00pm - 6:00pm MST

Some light (optional) pre-reading: https://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/case/dismantling-asus-discriminatory-dei-regime/

RSVP HERE

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Shifting Winds: Students Under Fire, 2020-2024

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) recently released a report and database: Students Under FIRE. This new resource tracks efforts to punish students and student groups for protected speech, just as Scholars Under Fire has done for faculty. Alarmingly, on a per-year basis, student sanction attempts outpace even our previous datasets.

This report examines the efforts to investigate, censor, or otherwise discipline students at U.S. colleges and universities for expressive activity that is, or at a public institution would be, protected by the First Amendment. An analysis of these incidents documented in FIRE’s Students Under Fire database between 2020 and 2024 follows.

Key findings include:

From 2020 through 2024, FIRE documented 1,014 students and student groups who were either targeted for or recipients of punishment[1] from either their administration or student government in response to their protected speech.
For comparison, FIRE’s Campus Deplatforming and Scholars Under Fire databases currently respectively contain 556 and 669 incidents over the same five-year period, and 1,703 and 1,273 incidents over a 25-year period.
Overall, more students and student groups were targeted or punished for expression from their left (476 entries) than from their right (337 entries).[3] In the other 201 speech controversies, the political direction was either unclear or the attempt was apolitical.

Interesting Reads

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs explains veto of bill to prohibit teaching of antisemitism — KTAR

Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill aimed at banning antisemitism in Arizona public schools, arguing it unfairly targeted public educators and lacked evidence of a widespread issue. While some Democrats supported the measure, critics—including Holocaust educators—warned it could undermine Holocaust education, while Republicans condemned the veto as harmful to efforts combating antisemitism.