Almost exactly a year ago the Arizona state legislature passed a law, HB 2169, that banned the use of student fees to support independent student organizations, rendering illegal the referendum-based funding model that Arizona’s statewide student organization, the Arizona Students’ Association had depended on for nearly two decades.

ASA has been working diligently over the last year to fashion a new approach and identity for the HB 2169 era, and this weekend that work is bearing fruit with the Association’s first annual Student Congress.

Starting with a reception this evening, and continuing through Sunday afternoon, students from all three of Arizona’s public universities and about half a dozen of its community colleges will be meeting in Tempe to debate and adopt a new structure for the Association and to elect new leadership to begin the rebuilding process in earnest.

It promises to be an exciting weekend, and I’m excited to be in Tempe — the folks at ASA asked me to come down to deliver a kickoff keynote tomorrow morning and to stick around to consult and advice as the Congress progresses. I’ve been reading the draft governance documents as they evolved, and there’s some very interesting stuff in them. More on that soon, I hope.

In the meantime, I expect I’ll be tweeting a fair amount about the festivities in the next 48 hours, so check that out if you like.