Kansas Legislature votes to ban spending on diversity ‘oaths’ at public universities

The Kansas Legislature voted Thursday to block the University of Kansas and other public colleges from spending any funds to require students, employees and job applicants to affirm support for diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.

Republican lawmakers tucked the ban into a budget bill that authorizes nearly $17 billion in spending over the next fiscal year. The move to restrict DEI statements, sometimes called “oaths” by conservative critics, comes as lawmakers in neighboring Missouri and other states also target DEI initiatives, attacking them as “woke” or left-wing ideology.

“I don’t agree with anyone having to subscribe to a particular ideology or line of thought, especially in higher education,” Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, told The Star.

The Senate approved the budget 24-12, followed by the House in a 79-44 vote. The next budget year will begin July 1.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has the power to line-item veto the DEI provision. Her office didn’t immediately comment.

The budget provision prohibits universities from requiring anyone from endorsing or opposing DEI, or from requiring statements about someone’s commitment to DEI. During a Senate budget hearing in March, state Sen. J.R. Claeys, a Salina Republican, read from a University of Kansas job posting asking applicants to describe their experiences working with people from diverse backgrounds and how those experiences “reflect your commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

But the provision also includes carve-outs that limit its sweep. It allows the universities to ask about commitments to DEI if expertise in it is necessary in the person’s field. It also says the prohibitions shall not limit academic freedom related to teaching, researching or writing.

The provision also permits compliance with federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Each university would be required to provide a report about compliance to the Legislature and the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.

Kansas Board of Regents chair Jon Rolph in a statement called the board a leader in upholding freedom of expression, citing a 2021 resolution affirming a commitment to the free speech rights of students. At the same time, Rolph said, the regents value diversity “and are committed to the success of all members of our diverse campus communities.”

“Those two commitments are not in conflict with each other,” Rolph said. “We must respect and protect freedom of expression while also working to ensure that every student in our system can achieve success.”

The regents institutions are more racially diverse than Kansas as a whole. In 2022, about 62% of students were white, compared to 74% of the state population, according to statistics from the Kansas Board of Regents.

Hispanic students account for nearly 12% of those enrolled and make up about 13% of the state population. About 6% of students are Black, in line with the state population of 6%. All other races and ethnicities account for 13.5% of enrollment. The race or ethnicity of about 6% of students are unknown.

Critics of the DEI budget measure called it unnecessary intrusion into university operations. The Kansas Board of Regents is already responsible for governing public higher education, including Kansas State University and Wichita State University.

“There’s a reason we have the Board of Regents. There’s a reason they govern our universities,” said state Rep. Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat.

“They should be the ones that if they feel that it’s necessary to talk about setting standards for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training to do it, not the politicians in this room.”

State Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat who is the senior associate director of KU’s Dole Institute of Politics, said she’s opposed to the provision. “We all need to kind of stay in our own lane,” she said.

In Missouri, after state lawmakers proposed legislation that would ban public colleges from asking job candidates questions about diversity and race, the University of Missouri System preemptively scrapped the use of diversity statements in its hiring practices. Instead of using diversity, equity and inclusion statements, university leaders will now send a “values commitment” to job applicants.

The full consequences of the Kansas language weren’t immediately clear, given the exemptions within the provision. The University of Kansas gave few details when asked if it had taken a position on the provision or had concerns with it.

“We continue to engage with the Kansas Board of Regents, our colleagues at the other Regents institutions, and state legislators to determine how the proposed legislation could impact our university,” KU spokesperson Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said in an email.

The budget bill includes $6 million to develop a foster care therapeutic program, nearly $7 million for a new Kansas Highway Patrol helicopter and provides $2 million to establish a program to encourage women with unplanned pregnancies to give birth rather than having an abortion.

But the legislation doesn’t include a 5% pay raise for state employees proposed by Kelly, valued at $170 million. It also doesn’t include funds that Kansas would receive from Medicaid expansion, which Kelly has also included in previous budget proposals. Republican lawmakers have refused to authorize expansion.

The legislation won’t be the last budget measure approved by the Legislature this year, however. In a few weeks, lawmakers will debate a final budget.

The Star’s Jenna Barackman and Kacen Bayless contributed reporting