TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas state universities will not be allowed to require prospective students, prospective employees and staffers seeking promotions to make public their views on diversity initiatives under a policy change approved Wednesday by the state Board of Higher Education in response to pressure from the state university. Republican-controlled legislature.
The Kansas Board of Regents has revised policy language, which currently emphasizes “multiculturalism and diversity” on campus, adding language prohibiting universities from requiring statements “pledged allegiance to, support for, or opposition to” initiatives diversity, equity and inclusion in applications for admission, hiring or promotion – without sanctions for violations. Board members voiced no objections during a meeting streamed live from Fort Hays State University in western Kansas.
Regents Chairman Jon Rolph called the change “our good-faith effort to listen to the Legislature” and said discussions about it began last summer.
“It’s not something that’s central to our practices around wanting student success and trying to deliver on our promises to people when we invite them to our campuses,” said Rolph, CEO of a Wichita-based company that is more operates more than 150 restaurants.
The board’s action came with the Democratic Administration. Laura Kelly face similar pressure to sign the same policy into law. Lawmakers passed a bill with the same restrictions that also allows for a fine of up to $10,000 for a violation.
In addition, the next state budget approved by lawmakers includes provisions that will withhold nearly $36 million from the state’s universities unless they publicly confirm they have no such requirements. Kelly has until Friday to take action on the bill and until April 25 to take action on the budget provisions.
“I don’t think we would have ever had a state law if this had been their policy from the beginning,” Republican Sen. JR Claeys, the author of the budget provisions, said ahead of Wednesday’s board discussion.
Republicans in at least two dozen states have tried to limit DEI initiatives, arguing that they are discriminatory and enforce a liberal political orthodoxy. Alabama and Utah passed new anti-DEI laws this year, and a ban passed in Texas last year led to more than a hundred job losses on the University of Texas campuses.
North Carolina’s board of trustees for 17 universities, including the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus, could help boost DEI worker jobs with a similar policy change next month.
Claeys, who is also an adviser to GOP Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, another DEI critic, said a new regents policy is a positive step because it ensures all universities follow the same guidelines.
But he added: “I wouldn’t expect them to impose any enforcement on themselves.”
Others say such policies reflect a “gross misrepresentation” of the purpose behind applicants’ DEI statements. The American Psychological Association defines diversity, equity, and inclusion as a framework to guide “fair treatment and full participation of all people,” especially those from minority groups.
“The intended purpose is to provide potential employees with the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and how those experiences complement an institution’s mission and values in support of a diverse campus community,” said Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers. in higher education, in an email statement.
It is unclear how widespread the required DEI-related statements on applications are. GOP lawmakers have said they are responding to complaints and requests they see online, but Rolph said Wednesday that the practice has largely been abandoned over the past year.
Granberry Russell said she was not aware of any university expecting students, applicants or employees to actually “pledge allegiance to diversity.”
A legislative study released in February found that only 1.6% of spending at Kansas’ six state universities — $45 million — went to DEI initiatives, but noted that each university defined DEI differently. In addition to initiatives traditionally seen as DEI, such as training and recruitment, the resources include food pantries for poor students and services for military veterans and disabled students.
Kelly told reporters after an event on Tuesday that she has not had time to review the anti-DEI bill. While the bill specifically mentions diversity, equity and inclusion, it also says that universities cannot require a declaration of “any political ideology or movement.”
Last year, Kelly used her power under the state Constitution to veto individual budget provisions to overturn anti-DEI provisions in the current budget, and Republican lawmakers did not have the two-thirds majority needed in both chambers to override her actions.
But Kelly also signed legislation last year that bans Kansas officials from using environmental, social and governance factors when investing public funds or deciding who receives government contracts.
“Sometimes those bills don’t actually do much, and the universities can continue to function the way they’re supposed to function,” Kelly said Tuesday. “So I have to figure out or look at the impact that that will have.”
