Kentucky’s Republican supermajority falls short in passing ban on college DEI

The Kentucky Senate Republican supermajority failed to pass a ban on university diversity, equity, and inclusion offices late Thursday night, likely killing the measure for the legislative session.

The Senate adjourned just prior to midnight without passing the bill to defund DEI offices, staff, and training dedicated to “implementing and promoting” the “discriminatory concepts” at institutions of higher education in Kentucky, according to the legislative text. Kentucky legislators were up against a veto recess, meaning Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), who supports DEI, can now reject anything passed in the remaining days of the legislative session without state lawmakers having enough time to override his veto.

Beshear has already vowed to veto any DEI ban, and any attempt to revisit the issue will likely be tabled until the next session.

In January, Republican Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson, who initially authored the bill, said that “our public universities have been plagued by a new form of discrimination,” describing the racialized framework as “ideologies attempting to suppress free speech and ideological diversity, undermine academic freedom and the principle of equal opportunity, devalue academic and professional merits, and reduce the values of diversity to a bureaucratic exercise.”

The bill defined DEI as “policies, practices, or procedures designed or implemented to promote or provide differential treatment or benefits to individuals on the basis of religion, race, sex, color, or national origin.” If passed, the legislation would have barred the ideology from being used to inform a variety of employment practices, as well as student recruitment, admissions, housing, financial assistance, and scholarships. It would also have prohibited “training, conference, presentation, meeting, or professional development containing, implementing, or promoting discriminatory concepts.”

And it would have blocked schools from requesting diversity statements from prospective employees and students.

Lawmakers in Kentucky would not speak about the eleventh-hour disagreements that took place behind closed doors, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported, but the bill, which originated in the state Senate, returned to the chamber with significant alterations from the state House when it came back for final passage.

“It’s been contentious within our caucus, and that’s about all I can say — that’s all I will say,” Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said.

While the original Senate version of the bill referred to common DEI-related narratives such as “race scapegoating” and the ideas that some people are “inherently racist” and “Americans are not created equal,” some of the changes made in the House referred more generally to “oppression, colonialism, socioeconomic status, religion, race, sex, color or national origin.”

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Republican House Speaker David Osborne said Kentucky’s House and Senate leadership could not come to a compromise on language in time to pass a bill.

Many in Kentucky anticipated a DEI ban to pass, following a growing number of states that have defunded the ideology at their public institutions.