Waves of protest have hit Arizona's campuses, with students and activists alike pushing universities to divest from companies linked to Israel amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. These demonstrators, calling for solidarity with Palestinians and a ceasefire, are finding themselves up against a solid wall of state law that bans such boycotts.
Under the banner of the Palestinian cause, these protesters have not shied away from making aggressive demands. At Arizona State University, they have called for ASU President Michael Crow to step down for his handling of the protests, as per Arizona Public Media. Besides his resignation, they want the university to sever ties with "all companies tied to the state of Israel or complicit in the occupation of Palestine."
But these demands are clashing with laws established over the past eight years that explicitly prevent state institutions from participating in boycotts against Israel. Public universities and community colleges, after being included in this directive in a 2022 amendment, cannot legally endorse or implement any investment strategies that embody such boycotts.
"A public entity may not adopt a procurement, investment or other policy that has the effect of inducing or requiring a person or company to boycott Israel," reads the text of the law. Defending the legislation, Sen. David Gowan, who sponsored both the original bill and its amendment, told Arizona Public Media that, "We have a right as the state of Arizona to decide who we’re going to invest with or not, and that's what we're doing here as a body."
The architect of the boycott prohibition, former Sen. Kimberly Yee, refined the 2016 law's language to impede the participation of public entities in boycotts themselves. Acting at the behest of groups opposing the BDS movement, which advocates for boycotts, divestments, and sanctions against Israel, Yee's amendment aimed at undercutting such economic pressures. She emphasized the state's confrontations, with calls for Israeli boycotts as early as 2016. As Arizona's treasurer, Yee took action against Ben and Jerry’s parent company for ceasing ice cream sales in Israeli-occupied territories, a move in line with these anti-boycott efforts, according to an interview with Arizona Public Media.
These legal statutes, however, have faced challenges and revisions over time. Initially, the 2016 law targeted contracts only, but a subsequent lawsuit led to an amendment that limited the restrictions to contracts over $100,000 and businesses with more than 10 employees. The adjustment helped sidestep the legal snags. But still, Arizona stands with 37 other states that have enacted legislation targeting the BDS movement, carving a challenging path for protesters hoping for institutional backing in their calls to boycott Israel.
