Kentucky looks to dismantle DEI programs and race-based admissions at public universities

Kentucky lawmakers have passed bills that would cut funding from diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at state universities and rid the schools of admissions requirements that had students speak in favor of the dogma.

A state Senate bill passed with a 67-7 vote that would have prohibited state schools from requiring students and faculty to "describe the attitude or actions in support of or in opposition to specific ideologies or beliefs" as part of their admissions procedure.

When the bill was passed down to the state House, it was modified to take a stronger position against DEI programs as a whole. A ban of race-based scholarships was added to the bill, as was the elimination of funding for DEI offices and staff positions at state universities, SCNR reported.

The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education would also be prohibited from approving any degree that requires coursework that contains "discriminatory concepts."

That bill passed with a 68-18 vote and will move back to the Senate for approval.

Republican state Rep. Jennifer Decker said that public institutions will need to "dismantle the misguided DEI bureaucracies" and "put an end to the failed, expensive and discriminatory DEI initiatives at our public post-secondary schools in Kentucky."

Decker also noted that the bill would make schools "inclusive and welcoming to all," according to the Associated Press.

"If I’m being wheeled into the emergency room to have brain surgery ... do I look around at the brain surgery team and say 'woah [sic], is there diversity on this team?'" Republican state Senator John Schickel asked. "No, I want the best darn team in there with the most expertise," he said per the Courier Journal.

Democrats took a different position, chiefly that the defunding of the DEI offices would hurt racial minorities.

"Diversity, equity and inclusion programs are about creating and sustaining environments that support students and faculty who have been traditionally underrepresented on our college campuses, that make them feel safe and welcome," said Democratic state Rep. Nima Kulkarni.

Kulkami alleged that a false history would be taught, leaving out the teaching of "how oppressive governments create systems of inequality through laws and policies that are structured to marginalize minority groups."

In a seemingly transparent statement, Lexington Democratic state Sen. Reginald Thomas said that the state "should not and never as a country move to a color-blind society."

"Instead, we should embrace all people of different clubs, different boards, different languages. ... That is the richness of our diversity and differences."

Democrat Tina Bojanowski called the bill a "threat from authoritarians who use phrases like 'evil DEI bureaucracy and indoctrination' to limit academic freedom while imposing their world view upon institutions of higher education."

About 100 students protested the closure of the DEI offices at the University of Lexington, with one student stating they were bothered by the closure of its Cultural and Equity Center.

"I know as a black student, the Cultural and Equity Center is where I found family and also is where I was able to make connections and network that I didn’t have access to outside of campus," said protest organizer Carlie Reeves.

Another student, according to Wave 3, voiced their opposition to the bill based on their race-based scholarship.

"I am here because I am a Porter Scholar. I am here because of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion."

A Woodford R. Porter Scholarship is a scholarship awarded only to black or African students.

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