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The majority-GOP Kentucky House has voted to defund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices at public universities.
On Friday (March 15), the House voted 68-18 to pass an overhauled bill on DEI in state-funded universities, sending it back to the Senate, which had previously passed a much different version of the bill, per the Associated Press.
The overhauled bill includes a change in the Senate's language that "takes a tougher stand on DEI initiatives at public university campuses."
"This bill would put an end to the failed, expensive, and discriminatory DEI initiatives at our public post-secondary schools in Kentucky," Kentucky State Rep. Jennifer Decker said.
Kentucky Democrats were critical of the measure, emphasizing the importance of DEI in schools.
"Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are about creating and sustaining environments that support students and faculty who have been traditionally underrepresented on our college campuses, that make them feel safe and welcome," Democratic state Rep. Nima Kulkarni said. "It would disallow the teaching of how oppressive governments create systems of inequality through laws and policies that are structured to marginalize minority groups. Our students deserve to know our history. They deserve to fully explore all of the progress that we have made."
The Kentucky Senate will now decide whether to pass the new version of the bill. The Kentucky bill comes after Florida lawmakers voted to defund DEI institutions at the state's public colleges and universities.
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