A federal lawsuit seeks to halt University of Arkansas System schools from asking contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel.
The lawsuit also asks that the state law behind the pledges be declared unconstitutional.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed the lawsuit on behalf of the company that owns the Arkansas Times, according to an ACLU statement. The ACLU said that the suit contends a state law enacted in 2017 violates free speech protections in the U.S. Constitution.
“Our client is simply asking the courts to uphold a fundamental First Amendment principle that the government cannot force people to subscribe to a specific political viewpoint,” Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said in a statement.
The Arkansas Times has never boycotted Israel nor advocated for a boycott, the Little Rock-based newspaper said in a post on its website.
Publications owned by the parent company of the Times had previously “for many years” published advertising from University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, the post states. This year, the school asked the Times to sign a certification to not engage in a boycott of Israel as a condition of a contract, according to the ACLU.
“Campuses in the University of Arkansas system have been advertising with us for years, so we were shocked and more than a little troubled when they sent over what looked like a loyalty oath as a condition of payment,” Alan Leveritt, the Times publisher, said in the statement.
The state law in question, Act 710, was sponsored by Sen. Bart Hester, a Republican from Cave Springs, and Rep. Jim Dotson, a Republican from Bentonville.
The ACLU has challenged similar laws in Kansas and Arizona.
In support of the Arizona law, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has argued that the law there regulates discriminatory conduct rather than speech.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.