A bill that threatens action by the state’s Attorney General against Kentucky public colleges and universities that promote “discriminatory concepts” linked to race and gender has passed the Kentucky Senate.
Senators voted 26-7 along party lines Tuesday to approve Senate Bill 6, sometimes referred to as an anti-DEI bill, for its proposed curbing of diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives many Kentucky public universities have embraced.
The bill now goes to the Kentucky House for consideration.
Northern Kentucky University and Gateway Community and Technical College both have DEI initiatives currently in place. NKU Office of Inclusive Excellence states on its website that its mission is to ensure “principles and practices of diversity, equity and inclusion are embedded into all aspects of university life.” That office has not yet responded to LINK nky’s request for comment on SB 6 emailed to staff last week.
Gateway President and CEO Dr. Fernando Figueroa told LINK nky in an email Friday that “Gateway and the Kentucky Community & Technical College System are currently reviewing the impact of Senate Bill 6, and working on setting up the proper strategies that could help our programs be compliant with the spirit of the legislation.”
Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson (R-Bowling Green) sponsors SB 6. He told the Senate, before it approved the bill Tuesday, that Kentucky public university students had faced pushback from professors and others for speaking against “discriminatory concepts” as defined in SB 6.
Sixteen of those concepts are listed in the bill. Among them are racial and gender privilege, the idea that an individual “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex,” and the idea that “the Commonwealth of Kentucky or the United States of America is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.”
SB 6 would ban public universities and colleges from teaching those concepts as fact, and would ban what it calls “preferential or prejudicial” treatment based on someone’s political or social ideology, the bill says.
“The vast majority of Kentuckians would find that the limitations are commonsense and noncontroversial,” Wilson said, who told the Senate that SB 6 is not an effort to undermine underrepresented groups.
“I want the Council of Postsecondary Education to continue promoting the academic success of underrepresented minorities,” he said. “This bill specifically states that nothing shall be interpreted to prohibit postsecondary institutions from supporting diversity initiatives – as long as they do not include discriminatory concepts.”
To ensure everyone knows what’s being taught, each public college or university in the state must publish reading lists for each course – including the title of every book or workbook – on its public website. At new student orientations, schools would have to provide copies of the full text of the First Amendment and notice of the Attorney General’s authority to bring civil action to force compliance with the bill among other mandated materials.
For DEI programs, SB 6 would require more emphasis on “intellectual diversity” (intellectual diversity is not defined in the bill), with at least 50% of diversity initiative efforts focused on academic coaching for students eligible for a federal need-based Pell Grant.
One senator voting no on the bill was Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong (D-Louisville), who teaches law at the University of Louisville. The senator said SB 6 would impact how she teaches legal concepts like “redlining” – a practice that promoted segregated housing and neighborhoods across the U.S. – and teaching of historical events like women’s suffrage.
“I’m worried about the way this bill will chill speech. I’m worried about the way it will be perceived by faculty and students at our educational institutions. For those reasons, I will be voting no,” said Chambers Armstrong.
Concerning free speech violations, Senate Minority Floor Leader Gerald Neal (D-Louisville) told the Senate public universities have mechanisms in place now for reporting free-speech bias or violations of university policy. Likewise, the Attorney General already has authority to take action against universities if necessary, he said. Neal tried to amend the bill to require the distribution of university free-speech policies to students and remove the Attorney General provisions, but the amendment failed. He ultimately voted against the bill.
Also voting no was Senate Minority Caucus Chair Reginald Thomas (D-Lexington), but not before he gave the Senate a history lesson about the 1966 Kentucky Civil Rights Act. The nearly 60-year-old law prohibits housing or job discrimination based on race, national origin, or religion.
Kentucky was the first southern state to pass a civil rights act, said Thomas.
“Kentucky was the first southern state to say we want to treat all races and all genders equally,” he told the Senate Tuesday. “I think today, with the adoption of this policy, we renege on the advances we have seen.”
Rebecca Hanchett is LINK nky’s Frankfort correspondent. You can reach her at rhanchett@linknky.com