An Editor’s Note
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders last spring signed into law Arkansas Act 542 of 2023, the Given Name Act.
Its full title is “An Act to Create the Given Name Act; to Protect Faculty Members, Teachers, and Employees of Public Schools and State-supported Institutions of Higher Education from Compelled Speech; to Prohibit Requiring Faculty Members, Teachers, and Employees of Public Schools and State-supported Institutions of Higher Education to Use a Person’s Preferred Pronoun, Name, or Title without Parental Consent; and for Other Purposes.”
“Compelled Speech” is getting a lot of mileage in recent years, like “Liberty” on pitted roads. The “other purposes” include the use of a student nickname unless it’s derivative of the name on the birth certificate, like Bob for Robert, now is banned in Arkansas.
The new law was listed among many others Sunday in editions of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “New Laws Bring Changes to UA System Schools” (with alternate link).
More solidarity can straighten out the tilt that otherwise shows little sign of weakening. Information on joining Local 965 of AEA/NEA, or renewing membership using eDues, is found at our Join the Union page.
Copyright 2023 Ben S. Pollock
My Editor’s Note column first appeared in the August 2023 newsletter of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965, which I’m serving as vice president.
