higher education; withholding state monies

SB 1694 would have prohibited Arizona state funding for public universities and community colleges offering courses that include specific diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics in their materials or syllabi, such as discussions of systemic racism, white privilege, or race-based equity. The bill defined "course on diversity, equity and inclusion" to exclude historical topics like slavery or the Holocaust, but would have cut funding for any course meeting the listed criteria. This bill was passed by the legislature in April 2025 but vetoed by the governor on May 2, 2025, so it did not become law. It directly affected Arizona's public higher education institutions by threatening their state funding based on course content.