Members of the Arizona Legislature are calling for teachers to penalize students who choose not to say the Pledge of Allegiance at a public school, leading to concerns from University students and community members about freedom of expression, regardless of their stances on the pledge.
House Bill 2725 is a bill that requires public schools, from Kindergarten through 12th grade, to notify parents when their children do not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance during the allotted time to do so.
The primary sponsor of the bill is Republican Arizona Rep. Chris Lopez of District 16. Lopez denied a request for comment on the bill.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, as represented by Darrell Hill, its policy director, is firmly against the bill, asserting the belief that students have a personal right to choose whether or not they say the Pledge of Allegiance based on the First Amendment.
"This is just another form of government coercion, forcibly asserting the government into the parent-child relationship without any compelling interest," Hill said.
For some University students, they did not have the same political beliefs as their parents growing up, making them concerned about students who may be in similar positions now.
"Were they (my parents) to find out my thought processes and the things that I believed in, that could have been pretty dangerous for me," said Oliver Mansfield, a freshman studying English and the educational resource director for Students for Justice in Palestine at ASU. "That's definitely pushing into the same territory for a lot of students."
Mansfield said they now choose not to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance due to their disagreements with the U.S. over how it responded to the Israel-Hamas war and transgender rights.
"The Pledge of Allegiance more so feels like a vow of support regardless of what's going on, and that's not something that I'd like to present personally," Mansfield said.
"(The bill is) going to, in the long term, silence a lot of voices that would normally be more outspoken," Mansfield said. "This takes away the bit of freedom that students will have in school ... and it's inciting fear into them to not want to continue voicing and standing on what they believe is right."
Hunter Tierney, a sophomore studying communication and an executive board member for College Republicans at ASU, said while he believes students should be standing for the pledge, he disagrees with the bill because he believes a tenant of the U.S. is the idea that people should be allowed to express their opinions freely.
"The Pledge of Allegiance was a good way to express respect and honor," Tierney said. "But if you force people to do it, it ruins the purpose."
He said that people shouldn't feel obligated to show respect, as respect is earned and should not be forced.
Tierney said he anticipates that if the bill passes, it will result in students losing trust in their schools and parents, wanting to rebel even more to express themselves.
While he was growing up, Tierney said he had been ridiculed in middle school by a teacher for forgetting to stand up in time for the Pledge of Allegiance. He said he understood his teacher's reasoning, but he believed she overreacted to his mistake.
Hill said the ACLU of Arizona views the bill as a "tremendous waste of teachers' time and resources," as it could have the ability to hurt students' trust in their teachers.
"It requires teachers to police the behavior of students to determine whether or not it meets government, patriotism standards and punishes those students who don't," Hill said. "This will obviously cause many students to distrust their teachers and schools, driving a needless wedge into the relationship."
Hill said a student not standing up for the pledge isn't a reflection of their lack of patriotism. He said it could be for an unrelated reason — like with Tierney.
"That might mean they're having a bad day, or they don't feel well," Hill said. "It's really improper to force teachers to tell students each time they decide they don't want to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It's just government overreach."
Hill said the ACLU of Arizona firmly disagrees that compelled patriotism is the right of the government and said "true patriotism" does not come from coercion or incentives.
It is currently law in Arizona that schools set aside time each day for students to say the Pledge of Allegiance if they wish to do so. The introduced bill has been read twice in the Arizona House, with the last read taking place on Feb. 5. Both the majority and minority caucuses voted to pass the amendment. However, all bills in the Arizona Legislature must go through three readings before fully passing.
Currently, the public has shown overwhelming support against the bill, according to the Arizona Legislature website.
"Our hope is that it does not move forward in the Legislature," Hill said. "We think that all politicians should respect the First Amendment and not believe in government coercion and if it does get out to the Legislature, our hope is that Governor Hobbs does veto it."
Edited by George Headley, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at ehprest1@asu.edu and follow @ellis_reports on X.
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Ellis is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication. This is her first semester with The State Press. She has also worked at Arizona PBS and Blaze Radio.
