The Arkansas state Senate recently approved legislation prohibiting antisemitic discrimination in the state’s public K-12 schools and colleges.
SB 352, sponsored by Republican state senators Matt Stone and Ben Gilmore, passed by a 29-4 margin on March 13 and defines antisemitism using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill adopting the IHRA definition in February 2023. The new legislation would incorporate the definition into student and employee codes of conduct.
The bill will also strengthen the enforcement of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by requiring the state’s Department of Education to appoint a Title VI coordinator to oversee, review and investigate all complaints and incidents of discrimination, including antisemitism, in public K-12 and post-secondary schools.
Gabriel Groisman, senior adviser at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, which backed the bill, testified before the state Senate’s education panel last week, stating that the legislation will effectively combat Jew-hatred.
“There are only two ways to deal with an issue like antisemitism,” he said at the hearing. “We can either sit back and wait for it to happen in our communities, or we can be active and try to squash it at the beginning.”
“It’s clear that Arkansas has not been waiting, and I urge Arkansas not to wait,” he added. “This is something that will send a message all across the country that antisemitism and the scourge we’re seeing all over the country is not welcome here in Arkansas.”
The bill also includes specific exceptions, stating that its provisions should not interfere with the constitutional right to free speech. It also clarifies that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country shall not be regarded as antisemitic,” per the legislation.
