GOP states target diversity, equity initiatives in colleges
Modeling bills to ban or limit DEI offices on campus
Frustrated by college diversity initiatives he says are “fomenting radical and toxic divisions,” Texas state Representative Carl Tepper set out to put an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion offices in higher education.
The freshman Republican lawmaker filed a bill to ban such offices. Three months later, he filed a new version of the legislation doing the same thing. The difference? Tepper switched the wording to align with a new model bill developed by the Manhattan Institute and Goldwater Institute, a pair of conservative think tanks based in New York and Arizona, respectively.
Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen states have proposed more than 30 bills this year targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in higher education, an Associated Press analysis found using the billtracking software Plural. The measures have become the latest flashpoint in a cultural battle involving race, ethnicity, and gender that has been amplified by prominent Republicans, including former president Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, potential rivals for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.
Many of the proposals root in one of a half-dozen conservative or libertarian organizations offering recommendations for limiting consideration of diversity, equity, and inclusion in employment decisions, training, and student admissions. Some measures mirror the model bills nearly exactly. Others copy key definitions or phrases while adapting the concepts to their particular states.
“There’s a tremendous appetite on the right to deal with this issue,” said Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director for the Foundation
for Individual Rights and Expression, which in February added its own model bill to the swelling ranks of proposals.
The bills are an outgrowth of recent Republican attempts to limit critical race theory, a viewpoint that racism is historically systemic in the nation’s institutions and continues today to maintain the dominance of white people in society. Christopher Rufo, who now is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, helped propel conservative outrage in 2020 against what he has described as critical race theory concepts infiltrating governments and educational institutions.
Trump responded by issuing an order in September 2020 banning training involving “divisive concepts” about race for government employees and contractors. Similar wording began cropping up in state-level legislation the following year.
Florida’s so-called “Stop WOKE” law, which DeSantis signed last year, is among the most prominent measures. It bars businesses, colleges, and K12 schools from giving training on certain racial concepts, such as the theory that people of a particular race are inherently racist, privileged, or oppressed. Courts have currently blocked the law’s enforcement in colleges, universities, and businesses.
DeSantis proposed legislation this year to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion offices as part of a broader agenda to reshape higher education. He also appointed Rufo and other conservatives to the New College of Florida’s oversight board, which then abolished the liberal arts college’s office that handles diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
“DeSantis has been so vocal about the changes he wants to make in universities that it has probably spurred activity in other states,” said Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a conservative nonprofit based in Raleigh, N.C.
On their face, diversity, equity, and inclusion may seem uncontentious. Higher education institutions, along with many businesses, have devoted resources to inclusivity for years.
Campus DEI offices often spearhead services tailored to students of various races, genders, sexual orientations, cultures, and abilities.