The bill, which was first read aloud in the Alabama Senate in late February, defines divisive concepts as, “Race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.'' ” It contains content that teaches.
The bill also includes language that would require public universities to require students to use restrooms based on their biological sex at birth, citing existing state law.
Ivey said he signed the bill, which goes into effect Oct. 1, to “protect” the state's colleges and universities.
“My administration has always cherished and will continue to cherish Alabama's rich diversity, but a few bad actors, on college campuses, or for that matter anywhere else, have committed tax-paying “I refuse to allow Americans to use their funds to promote their liberal agenda under the acronym DEI, a political movement that goes against what the majority of Alabamians believe,” she said in a statement. Ta.
Civil rights groups denounced the bill, saying it sets the stage for culture wars across the country and adds to the chilling effect classrooms have experienced in recent years.
In a statement in late February, free speech advocacy group PEN America called the bill “the most harmful educational gag order ever to impact higher education.”
The group compared the bill to Florida's “stop-wake law,” which restricts how workplaces, public schools and universities teach diversity and inclusion until blocked in court.
PEN America said Alabama's bill is “even more restrictive.”
In a news release after the Alabama Senate voted to pass the bill in February, the Republican caucus said the Office of DEI in Higher Education “functions like a divisive ideological activist.”
“Instead of being corrupted by subversive ideologies, higher education must return to its essential foundations of academic integrity and the pursuit of knowledge,” Sen. Will Barfoot (R), the bill's lead sponsor, said in a statement. ”. “This law allows people to share what they have in common, rather than building walls that confine people to the idea that race, religion, and sexual orientation are the only things that define us and how society should view us. It builds a bridge to celebrate what we do.”
The bill provides that nothing would preclude public school students and faculty from hosting DEI programs as long as state funds are not used for sponsorship. However, it also provides that state agencies and public agencies cannot use grants or federal or private funds “for the purpose of forcing consent to any conflicting concept.”
The law does not prohibit teaching the curriculum “in a historically accurate context,” it added.
Alabama's bill is the latest in a series of conservative bills aimed at restricting education about race, sex and gender that have gained momentum during the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has sparked a wave of frustration among parents and, later, politicians across the country, first with school closures and safety measures like mask-wearing, then with racially charged public schools and colleges Racism, history, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Since 2021, nearly 90 laws have been enacted across the country that limit or outright ban instruction on these issues at both the K-12 and college levels, according to a Washington Post analysis. This law was overwhelmingly adopted in red states. The first wave of such bills focused on issues of racial instruction on K-12 campuses, and later on how teachers could discuss gender identity and sexual orientation. , the latest bill focuses more squarely on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and training. And even classes on college campuses.
The movement against DEI became especially heated late last year, when then-Harvard University President Claudine Gay first failed to condemn what critics said was anti-Semitic behavior, then after allegations of plagiarism by right-wing pundits. received criticism. She ended up revising some papers.
Some conservative critics have come to claim that he is gay. This equates to “DEI employment.” In other words, she is a totemic symbol of DEI efforts at the university level, hired into Harvard's top job solely because of her race and gender. Gay, Harvard's first black president, resigned in January, and some on the right were quick to seize on her resignation as evidence that the anti-DEI movement is gaining momentum.
“This is the beginning of the end for DEI in American institutions,” conservative activist Chris Rufo wrote on X (formerly Twitter), congratulating Gay on his resignation.
Anti-DEI advocates have scored several other big victories in recent months. Utah passed a law in January that prohibits universities, state commissions, and public officials from establishing DEI offices, and Texas law similarly mandates diversity training for DEI offices and students and employees at public institutions in the state. A law has been enacted prohibiting it. Outside of higher education, a federal judge ruled in March that supporting only businesses owned by Blacks, Latinos, and other minorities violates the Constitution's equal protection guarantee. and ordered that minority corporate institutions be opened to all races.
A spokesperson for the University of Alabama System, Alabama's largest public higher education system, did not directly say whether schools would cut DEI programs if the law went into effect, but said Ivey would sign the bill. He told The Washington Post beforehand. “We will determine what actions are necessary to ensure that we continue to fulfill our multifaceted mission and ensure that all members of our campus community can succeed on and off campus in compliance with applicable law.”
