When small-time state lawmakers propose virulently un-American legislation in the name of preserving American values, few outside their narrow constituencies usually notice. When these same lawmakers’ proposed restrictions on ethnic student groups and academic thought passes through a committee of the Arizona State Legislature, however, the nation rightfully takes notice. The rest of the legislature should reject this scheme before it embarrasses the entire state.

The Arizona House Appropriations Committee approved the proposals, which would ban racially defined student organizations and any classes that “denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization” from state-funded colleges, as part of an unrelated homeland security bill, according to an April 18 Chronicle of Higher Education brief. Its purpose, according to the bill’s Republican sponsors, is to tell students of different backgrounds to “adopt American values.”

Though Arizona has every right to regulate the clubs and coursework of its state-funded colleges, bigoted lawmakers have no right to suppress free expression in the name of American values. No act is less American. If the legislature actually passed this proposal, college history courses would be forced to ignore chapters of history as recent as Watergate for fear of denigrating American values. The idea stinks of Soviet-style propagandizing.

As for racially based student groups, all Americans have the right to assemble in any way they see fit. Of course, no group can discriminate in favor of one student over another, but most ethnic student organizations accept all comers. An Indian dance club, for example, will usually accept Indian dance enthusiasts from all backgrounds, though most will be Indian. To regulate how these groups form in the first place, however, would itself be racial discrimination.