Kansas lawmakers join their Republican colleagues in other states in trying to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on campus, but they framed their proposals to avoid having to agree on how to define DEI.
The Kansas House plans to vote Thursday on a bill aimed at preventing universities, community colleges or technical colleges from basing a student admission, employee hiring or promotion on any statement or pledge about diversity, equity or inclusion. Although the bill includes these words, it also states that universities cannot request a statement about “any political ideology or movement.”
The vote was scheduled a week after the Senate approved a proposed $25 billion state budget with a provision designed to force universities to eliminate such requirements and mandatory DEI training. The provision would withhold $35.7 million from the state's six universities until Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature report they have done so.
Republicans in at least 20 states have sought to limit DEI initiatives, arguing that they are discriminatory and impose liberal political doctrine. Alabama's governor signed an anti-DEI bill on Wednesday, Utah enacted a law earlier this year, and proposals advanced in Kentucky and South Carolina this week.
“Universities have chosen to embrace ideologies that discriminate against people who do not adhere to their traditional beliefs,” state Rep. Steve Howe, a central Kansas Republican who is chairman of the Higher Education Committee, said during a House debate on Wednesday.
House approval on Thursday would send the measure to the Senate. As for anti-DEI budget allocations, negotiators expect both chambers to discuss them as they craft the final version of the annual budget.
The House bill establishes a process for hearing DEI complaints, giving universities time to reverse disputed actions. But it also allows the attorney general to file civil lawsuits against universities and colleges and seek fines of up to $10,000.
A legislative review released last month said 1.6% of the six public universities' annual spending, or $45 million, went to DEI initiatives, but noted that each university defines DEI differently. Besides initiatives traditionally viewed as DEI, such as training and recruiting, it also included food pantries for poor students and services for military veterans and students with disabilities.
But none of Kansas' measures specify DEI.
“It's difficult for me to pass a bill to penalize a university for doing something that we haven't identified,” said Democratic state Rep. Tom Sawyer of Wichita. “The words diversity, equality and inclusion, to me, are in themselves positive words.”
Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican from Wichita, said his House bill creates a simple test — whether a university requires ideological statements from students, job applicants or employees — that doesn't require everyone to agree on how to define DEI.
“Everyone has a different definition,” Hawkins said. “Getting everyone to aspire to one definition is very difficult.”
Likewise, state Sen. J.R. Claes, another central Kansas Republican who wrote his chamber's budget provision, said this simply prompts higher education officials to stop using race-based criteria in their decisions, in keeping with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year to end Affirmative action in college admissions.
Claes, a Senate budget negotiator and Republican state counsel Atty. Gen. Kris Kobach said the threat of funding is the best way to convince universities to comply.
The National Education Association teachers union and other organizations have denounced anti-DEI campaigns in Republican states as an attack on people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and others.
In statehouses across the United States, Republicans and Democrats have been pushing opposing definitions of equity and opportunity in state education and workplaces.
Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states are promoting more than 30 measures this year to demand greater attention to diversity, equity and inclusion. Republican state lawmakers have faced more than 60 measures to block or restrict it, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural. Five GOP bills have received final approval.
A new Utah law prohibits government agencies, universities and K-12 schools from having offices of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, signed legislation last week that bars higher education institutions from considering data on diversity, equity and inclusion in decisions about hiring, benefits or student admissions. This legislation also states that any diversity programming must address “cultural and intellectual diversity.”
Republican lawmakers in Idaho and Wisconsin last week passed bills that would prevent higher education institutions from tailoring hiring and admissions decisions to diversity data.
In Wisconsin, Democratic Governor Tony Evers is expected to veto his state's legislation. In Kansas, Kelly has not said what she would do if any of the GOP proposals are approved, but she vetoed an anti-DEI provision included in budget legislation last year.
The measure approved by Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday would bar state agencies, universities and K-12 school systems from sponsoring DEI programs. It would also prevent them from forcing students or staff to adhere to a “divisive concept,” a term that covers concepts such as white privilege, systemic discrimination, and the idea that meritocratic systems can be “racist or sexist.”
Alabama's new law, which takes effect Oct. 1, would prohibit universities, K-12 school systems and state agencies from sponsoring DEI programs, defined under the bill as classes, trainings, programs and events where attendance is based on a person's race. or gender, gender identity, race, national origin, or sexual orientation.
Legislation passed by the Kentucky House of Representatives this week includes similar language in its definition of “discriminatory” concepts that the state's universities would be prohibited from using in training programs or course requirements.
In the Kansas House of Representatives, the Higher Education Committee struggled to formulate a definition. Rep. Clark Sanders, another Kansas Republican, initially expressed concerns about not having one but later backtracked.
“I may not be able to give you an explanation or definition, but I will know it when I see it,” he said.
Hanna and Lip write for the Associated Press. Hannah reported from Topeka, Lib from Jefferson City, Missouri.
