Texas capitol.Photo: Matt Barnes Photography/Getty Images
Texas is poised to become the largest state in the country to eliminate the funding of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (also known as DEI) programs at public universities.
The Texas Tribunereports that lawmakers came to an agreement Saturday to advance legislation that would ban DEI offices, programs and training at publicly funded universities. The measure further stipulates that all hiring at public universities must be “color-blind and sex-neutral" and that schools cannot create diversity offices or hire employees to conduct DEI work.
DEI courses have become a hot button topic, particularly among conservatives who argue that the classes will teach white students that they are inferior to their minority peers.
Progressives, however, say that these classes help foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment.
As theChronicle of Higher Educationreports, the passage of the Texas bill will lead to diversity administrators losing their jobs in the next six months, as the law goes into effect.
Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantissigned a billthat will eliminate funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from public universities and prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in general education courses.
“DEI is better viewed as standing for ‘discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,’ and that has no place in our public institutions,” DeSantis said in signing the bill, according to Florida’s Voice News.
Days after the bill was signed into law in Florida, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issued atravel advisory for Florida, saying the state and its Republican governor are “openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
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Education has become a hot-button topic heading into the 2024 presidential election, with Republican-backed legislatures around the country passing bills to govern which bathrooms students use orwhat they speak about in classrooms(which has led to an uptick in book bans at school libraries around the country).
source: people.com
