A Kentucky lawmaker is pushing for limits on college diversity programs

A Republican lawmaker has signaled plans to make more efforts to curb diversity, equity and inclusion practices at Kentucky’s public universities after the GOP majority didn’t resolve differences on the problem in the course of the recently concluded legislative session.

Kentucky lawmakers will reconvene in January, and state Sen. Mike Wilson expressed hope that lawmakers will use the approaching months to craft the subsequent version of DEI laws for the 30-day session in 2025.

“This will be something that we will work on in the meantime and hopefully come to an agreement with the House,” Wilson said Tuesday during a news conference with Senate Republican leaders.

Debates about DEI efforts on college campuses have been happening at statehouses across the country this yr. Republicans in at the very least 20 states have sought to limit such initiatives, arguing that they’re discriminatory and impose liberal orthodoxy. Alabama and Utah passed anti-DEI laws this yr, and Texas’ ban last yr led to the layoffs of greater than 100 employees on University of Texas campuses.

In Kentucky, the problem sparked contentious debates because the Senate and House passed different versions of anti-DEI bills. Opponents warned that the proposed campus restrictions could stunt minority enrollment growth and stifle campus discussions about past discrimination.

State Sen. Gerald Neal, the Senate’s highest-ranking Democrat, said Tuesday that anti-DEI efforts constitute a “shameless attempt to reverse the progress our community has made.”

Wilson, who is Senate majority whip, sponsored the bill passed by chamber Republicans in February. It would prohibit the usage of “discriminatory concepts” in non-school environments, resembling training sessions and orientation classes, and would prohibit schools from providing preferential treatment based on a person’s political ideology. It would also prohibit requiring people to display a selected ideology or belief when looking for admission, employment or promotion.

About a month later, the House removed the Senate language and introduced a alternative that took a tougher stance, also rejecting funding for DEI offices and officer positions. Wilson’s original bill didn’t include eliminating these offices.

Wilson said Tuesday that Senate Republicans had doubts about parts of the House version, without providing details. Both versions failed after the legislative session ended on Monday evening.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear condemned anti-DEI efforts last month in the course of the sixtieth anniversary of a landmark civil rights rally in Frankfort, the state capital.

“DEI is not a four-letter word,” Beshear said. “DEI is a three-letter acronym for very important values ​​contained in our Bible. Diversity, equity and inclusion are about loving each other. It’s about following the Golden Rule. … Diversity will always make us stronger. It is an asset, not a liability.”

With majorities in each houses, Republicans can easily override the governor’s veto.

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Neal, who is Black, said Tuesday that supporters of anti-DEI bills wish to “suppress the part of history that makes them uncomfortable” fairly than acknowledge the past and learn from it.

During a February Senate debate, Wilson said his bill would counter what he called a broader trend in higher education of denying campus jobs or promotions to college who refuse to subscribe to “the liberal ideologies fashionable in our public universities.” He said such practices also affect students and employees.

“Diversity of thought must be welcomed in our universities and higher education,” Wilson said. “But across the United States, we have seen a trend of forcing faculty, in order to remain employed, to formally endorse a set of beliefs that may conflict with their own, all in violation of the First Amendment.”

Looking forward to resuming work on the problem, Wilson said Tuesday that there have been parts of the House bill that GOP senators “thought they could live with,” without providing details.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer predicted Tuesday that GOP senators will reach out to House Republicans to try to achieve an agreement on DEI laws, which he hopes lawmakers will take up early next yr’s session. Thayer is leaving the Senate at the tip of 2024.

“They’ll be back here in basically eight months and they have that amount of time to try to reach a compromise on DEI,” Thayer said.