Kentucky’s legislators are poised to take a sledgehammer to higher education, with SB 6, their latest attack on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives. An overhauled bill, banning all DEI programs in higher ed, passed the House and now seeks Senate approval. It also encourages litigation and bans certain scholarships and housing communities as well as publicly funded or mandated diversity training.
The optics are bad:
If this anti-DEI legislation passes, out-of-state organizations are poised to press for boycotts of Kentucky businesses, conventions, and educational institutions. Recruitment for the 51K jobs Governor Beshear has procured is in jeopardy, plus retention as well as recruitment of students and teachers, as Kentucky becomes perceived as unwelcoming and anti-intellectual.
DEI programs were initiated in response to inequities experienced by under-served minorities.
Now, a small, vocal white minority claims harm caused by Diversity Initiatives (DI), and state legislators have taken up the cause. If your antenna went up because this sounds like white supremacy, you’d be correct: The anti-DEI movement is an orchestrated effort by national groups promoting anti-multiculturalism manifestoes.
Proponents falsely claim that Diversity Initiatives:
• Raise tuition costs, but evidence suggests otherwise;
• Promote “discriminatory concepts,” but quality DI create insights which lead to empathy, understanding, and respect. Plus, a Pew research poll found that 56% of workers attending diversity training reacted positively;
• Indoctrinate students to “liberal ideologies,” a presumption proven false. Plus, professors don’t indoctrinate; they present concepts which students must then prove/disprove with evidence.
Opponents see serious contradictions:
• Provisions tout viewpoint diversity—but ban mandatory diversity training, including how to implement viewpoint diversity in the classroom.
• Provisions require institutions to create strategies to attract and retain employees of diverse viewpoints — but ban inquiries into employees’ viewpoints.
Moreover, anti-DEI legislation arbitrarily demonizes benign terminology, when diversity, equity, and inclusion are valid training and educational concepts. It’s like saying, “We legislators fundamentally disagree with CRISPR technology, so you may not teach that in a biology course.”
It also implies that there is a standardized, packaged DEI ideology and program that is causing harm to students and faculty. There is not. Thus, would an attempt to teach any portion of “diversity, equity, or inclusion” be met with a legal challenge? Can an institution mandate training which shows professors how to treat diverse students fairly? That’s Equity. Or how to welcome all viewpoints? That’s Inclusion. Or how to expand your educational materials to reflect under-represented minorities? That’s Diversity.
Implementation of SB 6 will be a landmine for institutions.
Anti-DEI is a sledgehammer — when we need a wrench.
Are there professors incorrectly administering diversity programming? Undoubtedly. But eliminating trained experts is the wrong fix! Instead, legislators should ask the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education to facilitate institutions strengthening their DEI initiatives, with training to:
1) Assure “viewpoint diversity,” and
2) Discuss emotionally challenging topics, like systemic racism, so no one feels bad.
I urge you to tell your legislators immediately that anti-DEI legislation is wrong for Kentucky.
And if they help it to become law, you have one other solution: Vote. Them. Out!
Kimberly Kennedy is a writer, blogger, mother, former multicultural educator. She lives in Villa Hills.