Missouri Senate expands antisemitism bill with broader anti-discrimination language

The Missouri Senate unanimously passed legislation Wednesday that would require public schools and universities to create policies barring antisemitic harassment that disrupts students’ ability to learn with provisions adding broader anti-discrimination measures.

The bill has repeatedly stirred free speech concerns because of its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which labels some criticism of Israel as antisemitic. But senators negotiated a compromise prior to Wednesday’s debate, adding provisions that explicitly safeguard free speech.

“The goal here is not to prevent the political criticism of any country, any state, any particular practices politically,” state Sen. Curtis Trent, a Springfield Republican, said as he presented the bill to the Senate. “But it is to ensure that students and others have the ability to engage in rigorous discourse and have access to educational institutions.”

The bill gives flexibility to schools to choose other definitions of antisemitism, Trent said, and “design policies that work best for their institution.” 

State Sen. Stephen Webber, a Democrat from Columbia, said he would not have supported the version of the bill passed by the House earlier this year.

“We have taken a bill that was divisive… and we have gotten it to a place where a lot more people are on board with it,” he said. “That is what the Senate is supposed to do.”

One key change was to the bill’s creation of a process for reporting and investigating discrimination and harassment to state Title VI coordinators. The House passed language that outlined the procedure for tracking only antisemitic incidents, but the Senate version broadens the policy to discrimination against all races and ethnicities.

An amendment by state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, reinforced senators’ stance against discriminatory practices by tacking on a statement that “condemns discrimination in all forms.”

Moon said his amendment “protects the legal rights and free speech of everyone.” He initially received pushback, with Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold asking whether his statement fit with the bill. But when senators were asked to vote on the amendment, Coleman was among the 25 who agreed to add it to the bill.

The bill now returns to the House to approve the Senate’s changes and send it to the governor or ask for a conference committee to work out the differences.