Kentucky Senate approves limit on DEI at public universities

The Republican-led Kentucky state Senate has approved a bill to limit diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices at the state’s public universities. 

The measure passed 26-7 on Tuesday, sending it to the state House, after a nearly two-hour debate that dove into race relations, according to The Associated Press. 

Under S.B. 6, public colleges and universities could not give preferential treatment based on a person’s political ideology, and schools are prohibited from requiring applicants for admission or employment to state specific ideologies or beliefs.

“The ideals of DEI are not much different than the ideals of Karl Marx in his fight for economic equality … an equal distribution of capital for equal outcomes,” state Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, a Republican from Smithfield, said on the floor Tuesday. “We’re seeing dividing people and separating people … which is so opposite of what the intent of DEI is.”

The legislation is part of the trend of statehouses across the country — and Congress — debating DEI practices.

According to the AP, Republican lawmakers in 2024 alone have proposed about 50 bills in 20 different states that would restrict DEI initiatives, and Democrats have filed about 24 bills in 11 states requiring or promoting such initiatives.

While some Kentucky Democrats have argued S.B. 6 will limit the number of minority students at public colleges and universities, Republican Sen. Mike Wilson said the bill is intended to counter a growing trend of denying campus jobs or promotions to faculty refusing to espouse “liberal ideologies fashionable in our public universities.”

S.B. 6 also prohibits concepts that promote “division between, or resentment of, a race” or the idea that a “meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress another race or sex.”

Under the proposed restrictions, colleges are effectively banned from using DEI statements, which are often used as a way to describe the work being done to support historically underrepresented groups.

New student orientations will also be required to have free-speech materials, including a copy of the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

During his speech on the floor, Democratic Sen. Gerald Neal, minority leader from Louisville, argued that those who attend higher education can handle “tough conversations.”

“Nobody’s going to be perfect,” he added. “Somebody’s going to step outside the boundary, and we can pick out an exception. And then we can extrapolate to make our point as if that’s the reality. I don’t buy that.”