The College Fix

Kentucky GOP supermajority overrides Democrat governor’s veto to ban DEI

A supermajority of Republican lawmakers have overturned Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes on two higher education reform bills.

With that, diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Bluegrass State’s public colleges and universities have been banned, and a second law enacts university performance reviews.

House Bill 4 “eliminates DEI offices and training programs at public colleges and universities in Kentucky, along with any policies promoting ‘differential treatment,'” WLKY reported.

House Bill 424 “requires state university boards to take part in performance reviews of all presidents and faculty members once every four years and allows boards to remove employees from those positions regardless of status with the school if they fail to meet performance and productivity requirements,” the Courier-Journal reported.

The Associated Press reported the GOP supermajority votes, which took place last Thursday, were not unexpected.

“In practical terms, Beshear couldn’t stop Kentucky Republicans from doing what they wanted. In overriding his vetoes with methodical efficiency on Thursday, they followed the same script that’s played out at the end of legislative sessions throughout Beshear’s two terms as governor,” the news outlet reported.

House Bill 4 “forbids differential treatment in hiring, admissions, scholarships, and other areas based on religion, race, sex, color, or national origin. It will also prevent campuses from requiring or incentivizing students to participate in DEI training, and it prohibits public institutions from using resources on DEI training, offices and initiatives,” the Owensboro Times reported.

Last summer, the University of Kentucky shut down its Office for Institutional Diversity and ended DEI trainings due to the law making its way through the statehouse.

Conservatives praised the latest development.

“With this landmark legislation, Kentucky is joining states across the nation that are recognizing the incompatibility of DEI with the purposes of public universities: the pursuit of knowledge and the education of citizens. Goldwater will continue to advocate for our reforms that will eliminate the DEI scourge for good,” Goldwater Institute constitutionalism fellow Timothy Minella said in a news release.

Ohio last week also signed into law legislation that bans DEI in higher education.

MORE: UMich to shut down DEI office, discontinue campuswide DEI programming

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: University of Kentucky website screenshot of its former DEI with the word ‘CLOSED’ atop, image made with Canva

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