The University of Utah campus is viewed from Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Rick Bowmer)
The anti-DEI law also banned schools from having any policy, procedure, practice, program, office, initiative, or required training that is referred to or called "diversity, equity and inclusion."
In March, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama signed SB 129 into law. It prohibits certain DEI offices, as well as the "promotion, endorsement, and affirmation of certain divisive concepts in certain public settings."
The bill bans "divisive concepts," such as "that any individual should accept, acknowledge, affirm, or assent to a sense of guilt, complicity, or a need to apologize on the basis of his or her race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin" and "that meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist."
The legislation also required that restrooms be used on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity, and that public institutions of higher education "authorize certain penalties for violation."
University of Iowa spring campus scene in Iowa City. (Don and Melinda Crawford/UCG/Universal Images Group)
The bill prohibits "any effort to promote, as the official position of the public institution of higher education, a particular, widely contested opinion referencing unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, antiracism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, nee-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial privilege, sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts."
Idaho became the latest state to determine that institutions may not "require specific structures or activities related to DEI."
In December, the Idaho Board of Education unanimously agreed on a resolution requiring that institutions "ensure that no central offices, policies, procedures, or initiatives are dedicated to DEI ideology" and "ensure that no employee or student is required to declare gender identity or preferred pronouns."
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Other states, such as Florida, Texas and Tennessee, have all previously banned the practice of DEI in higher education.
Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/six-states-banned-limited-dei-colleges-universities-2024