Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law on Thursday SB 352, a Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM)-backed bill addressing and prohibiting antisemitic discrimination in the state’s public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education.
The legislation — the full text of which is available HERE — was passed on Monday in the Arkansas House of Representatives by a margin of 82-1 margin, with 11 representatives voting present. It was previously advanced in the Arkansas Senate with a 29-4 vote (and two present) on March 13.
The bill was sponsored by State Senator Matt Stone and State Representative Howard Beaty, Jr.
SB 352 defines antisemitism using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, including its 11 contemporary examples.
The IHRA antisemitism definition was already adopted by Arkansas in February 2023 via SB 118, passed by the State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Sanders.
A total of 37 U.S. states have adopted the definition, according to a database compiled by the Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) by CAM.
SB 352 requires the integration of the definition into student and employee codes of conduct, and gives teeth to Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act by directing the Arkansas Department of Education to designate a Title VI Coordinator to monitor, review, and investigate all complaints and incidents of discrimination, including antisemitism, in public K-12 and post-secondary schools.
It also encourages, but does not mandate, antisemitism awareness training for all students, school employees, school administrators, and school campus police, and the integration of a Jewish American heritage curriculum.
CAM Senior Advisor Gabriel Groisman testified in favor of the legislation at an Arkansas Senate Education Committee hearing last month, saying, “There are only two ways to deal with an issue like antisemitism. 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. 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.”
CAM is leading an organized effort to engage and educate state legislators across the United States on antisemitism-related issues and potential policy remedies, such as the Arkansas law.
Similar legislative initiatives have also been put forth in Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee in recent months.
